Evening star., 1942-10-26
BY RAYMOND P. BRANDT.

BY RAYMOND p. BRANDT,
st. Louis Post-Dispatch Correspondent.
The Navy now can use Army air
ports. Strange as 1t seems, the Navy
was not allowed to do so until re-
Gently. 1t took war developments
to bring about the correction of this
situation, which had impaired our
effectiveness in warfare in at least
two important instances-in the
Philippines and in Alaska.
Inquiry has disclosed that until
recently the Army and the Navy
had been operating under a peace
time agreement made more than
10 years ago. This agreement had
no legislative sanction. In effect,
1t provided that the Army would
defend all land bases, whether Army
or Navy, while the Navy, by ships
and with its air service, would be
responsible for protection of the
country far out at sea.
This peace time arrangement has
been criticized as partly responsible
for the disunity of Army and Navy
commands in the Philippines. The
spirit, If not the letter of this old
agreement, was again demonstrated
shortly after the Jap attack on
Dutch Harbor in Alaska last sum-
mer.
Discard of the peace time agree
ment was revealed by Navy Secre-
tary Knox's statement this week
that the number OF the Navy's land
based planes Is steadily increasing.
Cited by Mas.
One result of this time
agreement between Army and Navy
was pointed out by Representative
Mas of Minnesota. ranking Repub-
lican member of the House Naval
Affairs Committee. 1t is that the
Navy has no fighter planes designed
exclusively for land use, not even
for the Marines. At Guadalcanal,
according to Representative Mas,
the Navy command, in addition to
Its own carrier type planes, is using
Army fighters operated by Army
personnel for land-based operations.
The tragic effect of this old agree
ment was limited at but not elab-
Grated on by Admiral Thomas C.
Hart, former commander Of our
Asiatic Fleet, in his articles in the
Saturday Evening Post last month.
Arguing against separate air
force, the veteran naval officer in
sisted that as far as the Navy itself
was concerned the only lettering"
OF its air force was the agreement
with the Army against the Navy
using combat planes from land
bases.
THE only real lettering that the
Navy has experienced" he wrote
in the concluding article, ''is the
restriction under which it may use
combat planes on wheels from car
riers, not from aerodromes on land.
The only thing that is required is
entire freedom to use landing fields;
that Is very essential 'unfettering.
The Case of Luzon.
"The Asiatic Fleet tried manfully
to get Navy dive bombers into Luzon
during the autumn of 194l. They
could have been a very useful
weapon there. The Navy possessed
the planes, on wheels, and the men.
The only reason that is discernible
for denial of the proposal was that
Navy planes must not fly from the
shore"
In an earlier article, Admira! Hart
summarized how the Japs had
gained air superiority over Manila
a few days after Pearl Harbor. He
wrote:
within two days the Japanese
acquired control of the air (st
Manila) and they retained it to the
end, to our consequent disadvan-
tage all through the campaign.
THE Japs had to go to Luzon
on their first jump. This was the
time and place to have beaten our
enemy in the air. On those fields
were more than twice as many
P-40s as the A. v. G. ever had, but
again we failed to take much toll
of the Japanese planes. That first
day or so was our chance in the
air and we missed it."
Lovette Denies Restriction.
BY use of the present tense, Ad-
miral Hart obviously implied that
the restriction" is still in force.
This is emphatically denied by Capt.
Leland p. Lovette, director Of the
Navy office of public relations, who
says that the peacetime Army Navy
agreement has been completely alb
rogated by war conditions. Capt.
Lovette's denial is given force by
indications OF Secretary Knox this
week that land-based planes are be-
ginning to play q greater part in
naval activity.
Although he does not specifically
say so, Admiral Hart also implied
that the old agreement was respon-
sible for the Army's rejection. pre-
sumably Gen. MacArthur's, of the
proposal In the autumn of l94l that
Navy dive bombers operate from the
land fields in Luzon.
The whole story Of what hap
pened at Manila on December 8 and
9 hes not been told, and the re-
sponsibility has not been ofIicially
fixed on whoever was to blame for
most of our planes being destroyed
before they could take to the air.
Competent naval and Air Corps Of
hcers declare that II the Navy dive
bombers had been operating from