Evening star., 1946-10-10
Miscue by Army Seen
On Big GIobuI Flight
Questioning of State Department
Raises Foreign Policy Issue

Questioning of State Department
Raises Foreign Policy Issue
By Dapid Laurence
The War Department folks may have
miscued somewhat when they let it bs
known they had asked the State Depart
ment If group Of B-29s could fly around
the world.
There is no more reason why the Army
Air Forces or any other part Of our
armed services should ask the State De-
partment for permission to practice or to
engage in maneuyers to improve their
own efficiency than there Is for the Dip
lomatic branch Of the Government to
ask the armed services whether they
would object to strong or weak foreign
policy.
II the State Department should now
say it doesn't object, it raises questions
abroad, because then the mission Of the
B-29s becomes directly tied up with the
foreign policy of the United States and
gives an inference Of potential threat or
maneuvering to achieve a certain posi-
tion in diplomacy.
It would have been much better II the
Army Air Forces had made up its own
mind to fly the B-29s anywhere in the
world. For Just as the Navy can 20 any
where 1t pleases today, 50 can the Army
Air Forces.
One World Under U. N.
Since this is one world and since dis
tance has been reduced to matter of
hours in flying around the world, 1t Is
evident that any air force which Is to be
used by the United Nations in the future
must be conversant with flying condi-
tions around the globe.
The American weapons of war cannot
be kept up to date If they are not used
for maneuvers or practice operations.
So long as the United Nations is charged
with the duty of preserving the peace
Of the world-and air-force operations
are certain to be an integral part Of any
mission which seeks to fulfill that duty
the need for flights around the world by
heavy bombers or any other kind Of
plane is apparent.
The recent flight of the Army Air
Force plane from Honolulu to Cairo was
not just q stunt to determine an endur-
ance record. It was natural and logi-
cal operation designed to ascertain what
are the flying conditions in the Arctic
areas. This will be taken by some OBJ
servers to be associated somehow with
the possibility of future operations
against Russia, but such an inference
can only be the conclusion of those who
prefer "warmongering" to the real ex-
PLANTATION.
Long before World War II broke out,
aviation experts In America were point
ing out that the shortest distance
around the world was over the Polar
regions and were predicting that COM
mercial routes would 90 across the top
Of the world because these would be
shorter and perhaps even safer.
The airplane ass weapon Of war
or as vehicle of commerce Is still new
to many people but not to the men who
make planes or those who few them in
the war. The airplane presupposed "one
world" long before the phrase was ap-
piled to international politics or the
United Nations.
Must Perfect Weapons.
It is, on the other hand. the task of
military men to perfect their weapons.
This means constant practice flights
under all sorts Of conditions. To operate
q mass flight Of B-29s over long dis
tances requires techniques that are
constantly changing. II, therefore, the
Army Air Forces, one month, want to
fly over the North Pole and then on
subsequent occasion want to ny around
the South Pole In order to map out
new routes Of travel, this Is not to be
associated In any way with diplomacy
or foreign policy.
To be Influenced by the hush-hush
policies Of the diplomats is to incur un-
necessary risks. Fear of offending ia
pan caused the State Department or
the Navy Department or the admins
IL hdtAtn d. q WAlOiC w 1lCoAtnIC W VI CSD
Congress for money to fortify Guam.
The whole course Of the war in the
Pacific might have been changed and
many lives saved If the Navy Depart
ment had followed military logic and
insisted on protecting its own In the
Pacific.
The danger is that the armed serv-
ices viii again become victims of in
hibitions placed on them by diplomats.
In q realistic world the military men
should be given every encouragement
to engage in maneuvers or practice, es-
pecially in the stratosphere, which GER
tainly ought to be as free to our planes
as the oceans are to our ships.
(Reproduction Rishts Reserved.)
Too Much Law
Prom the London Daily Mail.
How many people in this country to-
day can say in the strictest meaning Of