Evening star., 1941-03-05
Separate Air Force
TacitIy Approved by
Gen. Arnold in Book
Col. Eoker Co-outhors
Winged Warfare on
Military Aviation
BY JOSEPH s. EDGERToN.


Creation of q separate United
States air force, with status similar
to that of the Army and Navy, is
tacitly approved by Maj. Gen. Henry
H. Arnold, former chief of the Army
Air Corps and now deputy chief of
staff for air, in new book, Winged
Warfare" made public today, of
which he and his former executive
officer, Col. Ira c. Eaker, Air Corps,
are co-authors.
Dealing with this. one of the most
serious and troublesome problems of
American air defense today, the two
Army aviation leaders say:
Many feel that eventually the
defensive air component of the Ma
ton will be given a status co-ordi-
nate and commensurate with that of
the Army and Navy. When that
time will come, if 1t does come, is
not yet clear 1t came in some of
the other nations of the world when
the pressure of war was upon them.
We shall be fortunate if our time
for that reorganization comes in the
relative calm of peace or, at worst,
in the preparatory and not in the
fighting stage"
Gradual Steps Suggested.
They sound the warning that 'the
separate air force idea is not some
thing to be rushed at peu nell or
hell bent for leather" but that there
may be intermediate steps between
the present organization and the
ultimate which it would be wiser to
take than to spring at once to
complete separation of the air arm
from the land and sea forces" The
creation of the new post which Gen.
Arnold now holds on the War De-
partment General Staff may be a
step in that direction it is stated.
1T may be that eventually air
forces for all countries will be sepa-
rated from land and sea forces for
the same reasons that sea and land
forces were separated more than a
century ago." the authors say.
Regardless of whether a separate
air force is set up, however, the task
of hemisphere defense may require
an absolute uniflcation of command
of air, sea and ground forces for
special service. Such a task force"
should be controlled by a supreme
commander" whose selection would
depend upon whether the undertak-
ing had more important and rela-
lively larger air phase or sea or
land phase" it is pointed out.
Air Parity Far Away.
While praising the American air
craft industry for the tremendous
progress it has made, the authors
point out that our determination to
build up air power was arrived at
too late to give the United States
any hope of parity with either Eng
land or Germany for some time to
come. We will be a third-rate air
power in 1912, they admit, and the
middle of next year will still find
US more than 25 per cent short of
minimum requirements for hemi-
sphere defense.
The authors advocate that black
outs should be practiced seriously in
all our cities" and that provision
should be made now for the rapid
installation of air raid shelters,
warning devices and a full compile
ment of anti-aircraft defense"
These things require time, much
planning and provision of much
ground equipment, "and it is too
late to wait until enemy bombers
can be heard overhead" to begin
this work of training and prepara-
ton. they say.
Although the authors characterize
the heavy bombardment airplane as
the most important of all air force
weapons, particularly for the United
States, with its continental and
hemisphere defense problems, they
point out that at the same time
the airplane itself is the antidote
for the air menace and that the
fighter airplane may become "the
stout shield which turns the bomber
spear from the heart of mankind"
Greater Planes Predicted.
They forecast, on the basis of de-
velopments. now we'll under way,
that tomorrow's military airplanes
will include fighters which will be
smaller and faster than those of
today, with speeds approaching or
exceeding the present world speed
record of 440 miles per hour; bomb
ers weighing 100000 pounds or more,
as compared with the present 100000
pound flying fortress, and airplanes
which will make present ranges,
attitudes and gunpoWer seem puny.
The lack of long-range heavy
bombers is admitted by both Ger
many and Great Britain to be an
outstanding aerial weakness, which
both powers are striving "frantically"
to overcome, the authors say.
Although the United States pos
sessed the services of two of the
three World-knoWn military leaders
who came out of the World War
with a proper conception of the role
of aviation in modern warfare, 1t
chose to ignore them and lost its
opportunity for world leadership,
Gen. Arnold and Col. Eaker point
out. They identify these leaders as
the late Brig. Gen. William Mitchell,
Hermann Goering, now air marshal
of the German Reich, and Admiral
William E. Sims, U. S. N.