Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-24
r. A. F. Changes Revive Talk
OfSeparate Air Arm for US.
Independent Flying Force Not Panacea, as
Experience of France Showed; Control of
Policy Is Crux of Controversy
By Ben PearSe.

The changes in personnel and the
creation Of an Army Cooperation Com
mand in the Royal Air Force, announced
last week by the British Air Ministry,
have caused widespread conjecture here
in view of our own huge air program and
the recent changes in the upper brackets
of our Army command.
Establishment of the Army Corpora
ton Command, in particular, is of inter-
est in the light of the controversy still
existing here over establishment of a
separate air force. From information
now available, the shift is being inter-
preted variously as offering support for
the opinions of the two schools of
thought, one favoring and the other OPP
posing separate air service. One inter-
probation of the creation of the A. G. G.
Is that the British are reverting to the
form of organization in effect before and
during the first part of the World War.
when the Royal Navy and Army both
had their own air services. Another in
depreciation holds that the move is
organizational in character and designed
to supply vital element heretofore lack
ing to certain degree between the air
and the ground forces-teamwork-a
element notably present during, and per-
haps largely responsible for, the German
sweep through the Low Countries and
France.
The announced purpose of the A. c. c.,
which will be stated in about equal ratio
with army and air officers, is to organize,
experiment and train in all forms of CO.
ordination between the r. A. F. and the
army. The inference widely drawn is
that its establishment is in anticipation
of the time when land offensive against
Germany is practicable. However, the
changes already made in the r. A. F.
and our own Army as a result of present
German air supremacy indicate that old
policies are being re-examined. Whether
this will mean the separate air force,
which the late Gen. William Mitchell
urged nearly two decades ago. remains
to be seen.
Mitchelfs Proposal.
Gen. Mitchell advocated a separate air
force as a practical method of attaining
the commanding position he believed
America was peculiarly fitted to occupy
In that field, but not as an end in itself.
Great Britain, France and Germany had
separate air services at the close of the
war when the Allies were gaining air
supremacy. All three nations still had
separate air services when the Munich
pact was signed 20 years later under
threat of an unmerciful German air,
attack. They have today, when the
German victories in Poland, Norway,
Holland, Belgium and France, largely
by virtue of air supremacy, are matter
of recent history Obviously something
besides separate air service, with
minister or secretary at its head, Is the
crux of the problem.
Briefly. what Gen. Mitchell proposed
was a Department of National Defense
with three divisions, one for the Navy,
the Army and for Air, the latter to be
charged with the complete aeronautical
defense and development of the Nation,
civil as we'll as military, and with
separate personnel entirely apart from
either the Army or Navy. The time
has come" he wrote IS years ago, when
aviation must be developed for aviation's
sake and not as an auxiliary to other
existing branches 3" In the future, no
nation can call itself great unless its air
power is properly organized and provided
for, because air power from a military
and economic point of view will not only
dominate the land, but the sea as well
49, Should any power be deprived of its
air forces, it could in no way cope with
an antagonist provided with an adequate
air force"
The Arguments.
Supporters of Gen. Mitchell argue that
air forces operate in different medium,
that their theater is or may be separate
or far removed from the remainder of
the army ground forces, and that their
military detectives and the character of
operations normally have no great con-
nection with those of the ground forces.
Proponents of the present dual setup
reply that air forces operate for only
short periods in the air before returning
to the ground, where from 80 to go per