The Dominion MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1917. A GROWING FACTOR IN THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3192, 17 September 1917, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1917. A GROWING FACTOR IN THE WAR

—■ « —. .Untoward developments which have operated this year to derango the offensive plans of the Allies give added importance to the measures :they .are taking to create a decisivo margin of power in the ' theatres where they have long been develop-

ing an increasing superiority. The collapse .of Kussia, if it has robbed 'the Entente for the timo being of '! the victory which' was in sight not ' so very long ago, has at the same' ; timo conclusively demonstrated tho 1 [Superior organisation and fighting | power of the Western Allies'and of- : iltaly. Tho question of ohief practical importance now raised by the • war is how long it will take ' the. Allies, in .the theatres where their power has been steadily to develop their .present superiority to a point ensuring victory. In this connection nothing is of better promise than' the great strides made by the _ Allies in tie expansion of their aerial forces and the assurance that these'forces will bo -speedily and heavily reinforced by America. Many, detail facts in regard to ■aerial development are necessarily withheld, but all in a position to ■speak with authority are agreed that aerial power must take a commanding place in whatever plans are shaped to end the war, and tho 'broad features of the Allied programme, as far as they have been disclosed, warrant a belief that the American Secretary for War was not carried away by optimism when he said a month or two ago: It will tak« no more shipping to send a thousand air pilots abroad tban a thousand infantrymen; it will take no more' shipping space to 6end aeroplanes and motors than to send artillery. It is now certain that if we make the effort we can send enough of both men and machines within a. year to h& of great value, perhaps to turn the scale, all without handicapping our plans for Hie array which is to follow or hindering the vital How of food and munitions. American, airmen and aeroplanes may turn the tide. They furnish our supremo opportunity for immediate service in the fighting line. The American programme of aerial' development has a very important place in the Allied plans for establishing an overwhelming superiority in the air, but it is not at present, and may never become, the chief factor making for the realisation of these plans. The. Americans are making their preparations on a big scale, and their supplementary contribution, as the Minister quoted has said, may turn the scale, but the hope that aerial supremacy may give the Allies a decisive advantage in the not-distant -future rests in the main, for tho time being, upon what has been already accomplished in the production and use of aeroplanes and upon conditions now reached as regards production which-should enable the Western Allies to very rapidly expand their existing air fleets. Facts concerning aeroplane' construction in Great Britain which have recently been made ■ public indicate that in this vital department of war organisation the Allies have only this year begun to reap in something like full measure the fruits of their past efforts. In part, these facts were set out in a statement made in June by the late Minister of Munitions (Dk. Addison). He mentioned that no fewer than a thousand British factories were engaged in some process or other connected with the construction and equipment of tho flying .'machine, and that aeroplanes were being turned out three.times as fast in May this year as in May, 1916. He added that even this rato of increase is being accelerated. A striking illustration of the rapid progress made in increasing output is supplied in the fact that serious problems arise in connection with obtaining raw • materials in tho quantities required. Tho needs of the aeroplane programme, according to Db. Addison, are enormous, almost passing belief. "For our present programme of construction," he remarked in the course of the statement just referred ' to, "more spruce is wanted than the present annu'al output of the United States, more mahogany than Hondu- ; ras can supply, and Honduras is accustomed to supply the requirements of the world. Besides this, all the linen of the typo required made in Ireland, the homo of linen, industry, anol the whole of the alloyed steel tha* England can produce, can be used. As for flax, to : meet the needs of tho Air Service ( the Government has actually to pro- ; vide the seed from which to grow • the plant essential for its pur- , poses." On tho subject of standardisation Dr. Addison spoke with reticence, and emphasised the dim- , cultics which arise under this head as a result of the evolution of new , types. It will bo remembered, however, that in the latter part of , July the news was cabled that the ; application of methods of standardisation to the construction of : aeroplanes bad at length become ■

practicable. What this means is explained, in the following terms by a special correspondent of the Daily Mail:

Tho day of experiment and trial is over, and tho momont of achiorcment lias come : Tho end has not been reached in aircraft design and tho future may havo great things in store; but it is now absolutely certain that wo have reached a point at which improvement must be judged by comparison with achievement and in relation to the delay in output caused l>y its adoption. Prom to-day output again becomes tho chief ai:d greatest consideration. Experiments will continue and progress will 1.0 made in design; but neither the hope of perfection nor the call for improvement must bo allowed to interfere with the pressing necessity for the creation of great active working fleets, standardised to accepted patterns and utilised on proved lines of success.

Taking what has been accomplished in Great Britain as an indication of simultaneous progress in France and Italy, and taking account also of tho important contribution that may bo expected from America, it would appear that there is a very definite foundation for tho hope that next year may find the Allies possessed of an overwhelming and possibly decisive superiority ; n the air. Tho Central Empires as well as the Alliea may resort to the standardised construction of aeroplanes, but the conditions reached are those • in which the enemy Powers will heavily feel the pinch of straitened resources—if tho Allies have to exert themselves to find the raw material required, the enemy is certainly much worse off in this respect, and also in regard to labour—and "the superior resources of the Allies will tell with rapidlyincreasing effect. Tho value of American aid, in this matter as in others, is very much increased by the fact that America was enabled to begin at a point which tho Allies reached after nearly three years of organisation and effort. Some particulars wcr© cabled a few days ago of a remarkably efficient aeroplane motor- which has been produced _ in America. This may be very important, but it is not so much on account of what she may accomplish by independent experiment as_ because she is in.a position to utilise great industrial and technical resources in accordance with plans and methods already shaped that America is likely to very materially augment the air-power of the Allies next year. Manufacture of machines is, of course, only one aspect of aerial development, but it takes a very important place amongst the factors which promise to give the Allies next year not only an overwhelming 1 aerial supremacy on the Western battle-front, but a margin of force which will enable them to effectively attack tho arsenals and manufactories—vital centres in _ Germany's military organisation— which cluster in tho Rhine Valley.