Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-03-05

facturer is extremely suspicious OF
any move which has the remotest
possibility of ever developing into
naturalization or Specialization Of
the plane building industry.
though Mr.. Rented has repeatedly
and publicly declared the "CAA
definitely is not in competition
with private industry; we have no
intention of producing planes. We
propose only to assist in the de-
velopment of prototype and then
turn the information over to the
manufacturers for use as they see
fit" The plane builders believe
Mr.. Rented but. they emphasize,
he won't be in that post forever.
and so they are continuing to ad-
here to their proclaimed policy Of
nearly three years ago.
Army Uses Light Types
But when they rejected CAA's
proposed IS million assistance
program, they welcomed then, and
still do, help from light-plane
Government user" and this is
specifically defined as the Army
Field Forces. Four types of post
war personal planes are now being
used by Gen. Mark Clark's soldiers
and the more and varied missions
they are assigned with troops in
the field, the more rapid will be
the development of these light
planes for such jobs as landing on
roads, on unprepared fields, get
ting into and out of small clear
ings and attempting to perform
other tasks that will emphasize
the need for greater performance
under difficult and limited condi-
lions. Small planes developed
with Field Forces assistance in
this manner eventually would
benefit the civil models and help
bring new types into being with
greater utility at lower cost to the
purchaser. This plan parallels
the Government assistance &C
cepted by the big-plane builders
for development of large airliner.
types from military air transports,
the Government absorbing the
high costs involved in engineering,
testing and producing the first
model. BY evolution and not revo-
luton, the small plane for the
masses will come into being, is
the mistaken belief of the people
whose task it is to design, produce
and market the small plane for
civil use.
Rented No Theorist
Mr.. Rentzers testimony before
the committee was not that of a
bureaucratic theorist with no ex-
perience in the industrial phase of
civil aeronauticS. Come June l, he
will have been in public office two
years, his first such experience. He
is a 41-year-old Texan who en-
braced aviation as a career on
graduating in 1881 from Texas A.
and M. School of Engineering. He
entered the scheduled airline in
dustry then just getting under way
and worked at such jobs as ticket
chopper. baggage-smasher plane
dispatcher, radio operator and sta
ton manager, eventually reach
ing a high and important post in
the field of airline communica-
tons. But in those early days he
devoted what leisure there was.
and what cash he had, to flight
training and building up flying
time. He has kept at it ever since,
though the closest he could como
to owning a plane was a one
fifteenth equity in a two-seater
which he and IA other members of
Washington's American Flying
Club operated out of Hybla Valley
Airport, below Alexandria.
Thus he appeared before the
House Committee in the dual
capacity of a Government execu-
tive charged with and wanting to
help the aircraft industry and.
through nearly 20 years expert
ence as pleasure flying-pilot, as
the spokesman for that vast, un-
tapped. personal plane owner
market. the vastness of which is
more questionable now than it was
this time six years ago.
Then. carefully supervised pro-
fessional surveys revealed" that
Americans would buy 100000 air.
planes Immediately after the war
for personal use: 100000 when
they've purchased something else
more urgently needed and denied
them by the war and Gin the fu-
ture" there probably would be
100000 aircraft owners through
out the land. -.
kaiser's Grand Plans
There was an epidemic of fly
ing fever raging across the Ma
ton at the time due to the
miraculous achievements of Amer
lean air power at the fighting
front and American mass produce
ton of complicated combat air.
craft at home. Nearly everybody
would sprout wings the moment
the war ended and nearly every
body believed it. so it appeared.
Those who didn't, dared not say
so out loud; nobody wanted to
hear why it couldn't be done right
away. The knowledge and expe-
rience gained from mass produc-
ton Of bombers and fighters-the
aircraft industry's achievement of
the impossible = was evidence
enough that everything is possible
in aviation.
Even Henry J. Kaiser was hyp-
Noticed by the drum heaters for
plane in every family. He let