Evening star., 1949-07-03
A-8 THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, D. c.
AY, :
Symington. Welcomes
Probe Giving Air Force
Chance 10 Tell Story
BY the Assoeioted Press

tary Symington said today he was
thankful Congressional investi-
eating committee is going to give
the Air Force a chance to tell the
truth" of it's case to the country
His address at the Air Force
Associations convention carefully
avoided any discussion OF the
capabilities of the B-36 bomber.
Such references had appeared in
addresses by Air Force officials
until the House. Armed Services
Committee decided recently to in
vestigate B-36 procurement and
air power strategy.
Secretary Symington said:
Thanks to the courage and
foresight of a great Congressman.
Mr.. Vinson Georgia Democrat
who heads the House committee) ,
we shall soon have the welcome
opportunity to bring before the
Congress and so to the American
people the truth about your Air
Force-its policies, its practices,
and its plans"
Gen. Tunner HOnored.
A second speaker. Gen. Vanden-
berg, Air Force chief of staff, said
that the Air Force is occupied
with it's own responsibilities"
In his address, Gen. Vandenberg
said:
"Hysterical statements that the
Air Force is on the verge OF ab-
sorbing or abolishing the other
services. would be merely humor-
Gus if they were not designed to
mislead or confuse.
The Air Force does not covet
the duties and the problems of
others. Of course we want
to produce invulnerable planes
just as we would like to build a
force large enough to overWhelm
any aggressor.
I'VE know. however, that no
plane or weapon of any kind can
be completely invulnerable, and
we are aware that the mainten-
ance of any overwhelming force
for many years would bankrupt
the economy of the Nation"
The association named Maj.
Gen. William H. Tunner, COM
mander of the combined Anglo
American Berlin Airlift, "aviations
man of the year"
DoolittIe Makes Presentation.
Gen. Tunner and the men of the
airlift were presented the Associa-
tion's top honor of the year, the
H. H. Arnold award for the out
standing contribution to national
security and world peace.
1t. Gen. James H. Doolittle,
Medal of Honor winner who led
the first bombing mission over
Tokyo, made the presentation.
The association also made these
citations for aviation achieve
ments at its third annual conven-
ton here:
AirpoWer award for distin-
guished service in the field of
science: R. C. Sebold, r. H. Wild
mer and Ray o. Ryan of Consoli-
dated Aircraft Corp, for their
outstanding individual contribu-
tions to the development" of the
B-36.
Mr.. Sebold was the original
project engineer, Mr.. Widmer was
chief aerodynamicist and Mr..
Ryan had charge of building the
experimental model and later
supervised actual production of
the plane.
Odum Gets Flight Award.
Flight: Bill Odum for his non
stop flight last March from Homo
lulu to Teterboro. N. j., which set
a new world distance mark for
light planes of 4,957.24 miles.
Airpower: Capt. James Gala
CHER, pilot, and the men behind
the nonstop globe circling fight
of the Lucky Lady H." The award
was for contributions to the &C
ceptance and understanding of
airpoWer. The big B-50 bomber
made the first nonstop flight
around the world last winter. 1t
flew 23,452 miles in "a hours, re-
fueling aloft.
Outstanding public service in
aviation: Robert A. Lovett, former
undersecretary of war for air;
Representative Winshaw, Republi-
can, of California; Representative
Vinson: Fred c. Crawford, presi-
dent of Thompson Products Co.,
Cleveland, for service as civic
and industrial leader; Smith
sonian Institution for establishing
the National Air Museum and the
National Geographic Society for
furnishing maps and charts to