VICTORY FROM THE SKY

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 12 October 1917, Page 1

VICTORY FROM THE SKY

STUPENDOUS PR©C4RAAEUE. AMERICAN DESIGN AGAINST KIEL CANAL. Those who wonder how much longer the enemy will rain bombs on defenceless towns may Unci an answer in the following special article from the Chicago 'Sunday Tribune': — , To put the Kiel Canal out of commission and assail the bottled-up German navy, from the air is the great objective of the American aviation programme. Thisjias just been admitted by Briga-dier-general George 0. Squier, chief signal officer of the United States army, who will direct the fleet's of aircraft the United States has undertaken to lauuch against Germany ill the spring of 1918. The plan, which calls for the construction of thousands of airplanes, the training of thousands of flyers, and the transportation of the vast equipment to France, all at a cost of nearly 1,000,000,000 dollars, is now under consideration in the House of Representatives. " To develop all the possibilities of fighting in ' and from the air in this present war will be America's great part," said 1 General Squiex recently. "Europe is war--1 weary and exhausted. Tire personnel of cur Allies for the most effective military j aviation has been used up, killed in the • infantry, cavalry, and artillery. -I mean the young men between 19 and 25 years of age—the period of life when men are at their best for aerial work. In Germany. j this class of personnel has certainly been • exhausted. So it remains -for us, coming in with a- fresh viewpoint, to end this thing the first possible minute. 3 . . MUST BE PROMPT. "Nothing else counts. Saving.a week of this war would be cheap at. any prcie,. and the United States alone can make this ®■_ contribution to her Allies and the world. I .' We can oufcman all other countries involved, friends and foes, and we can surely s outbuild them. So we should make this a 1 great national plan, to win, to make our j contribution to the cause something that j will be distinctly American in conception and in magnitude.

"And there must be promptness at any ;ost, for the sake of our own people as, .veil as for the people of Europe. To win prickly by the sheer weight of the liamjer of our machines means the sending }f the minimum number of men of the United States to the trenches. "We can train our men for actual war service in the air in seven months, comprising eight weeks of ground work and tour months of flying at the training schools in this country, and then a month of - intensive battle-plane training work in France. I don't know how many will be needed. That, again, depends upon Yon Hindenburg.' But we want enough to operate in regiments and brigades if necessary, to make all Germany unsafe, to force her to demobilise her air forces af\. the front and send the men and machines, back to protect the cities. This will blind her artillery and render it helpless by depriving it of the range-finders. " Furthermore, our regiments and brigades will be abie to destroy all of Germany's interior lines of transportation for the movement of troops and supplies. They : will be able to rob the enemy fleet of the security it now enjoys at Kiel. CANAL WILL BE USELESS. "An airplane can now carry and drop a thousand pounds of explosives. If that is not enough to sink a Dreadnought, it certainly can, disable it for three or four months, and then it can be disabled again in. the same way after repairs. We can make the Kiel Canal itself useless. " These are some of the things thaiAmerica can do if she has a sufficient preponderance of machines. In addition to all that we can carry on the more conventional aircraft warfare along the front, working on the three levels, ranging all the way from the altitude of 19,000 ft of the solo machines down through the one-mile level of the range-finders to the bombdropping machines flying as low as circumstances call for or admit. " We will waste no time in experimenting with battle-plane devices of our' own before we begin tihe work of construction. On the contrary, we will call 011 our Allies to furnish us with their best plans and specifications, with which we can rush our building programme." It- will require necromancy, however, to enable the United Stats to carry out an effective aviation programme within a year. Though war was declared more than three months ago, the great aviation plan is still on paper, and was not even conceived six weeks ago. - No one understands the colossal difficulties confronting the United States in its aviation programme better than Captain De La Grange, of the French army, who is in America to give the Administration the benefit of his experience in developing the fly 11151 forces of France. " The formation of a large aviation section by' the United States," he said recently,' "is only a question of money. It takes three to four months to train a pilot. We already have seen how quickly sturdy, young men can be turned into excellent aviators. " In less than a ; year it would be possible to have more than 5,000 pilots. These pilots would be trained for the first few month's in the United States, and for the last months in the American school that is now being created in France at Issoudun. MEANS GREAT EFFORT. " The important question is that of material. If the Government wish to. before the first of April, 1918, they can have a tremendous aero fleet- Suppose they decided to have only 5,000 'planes and 10,000 motors. In order to keep that number of aeroplanes always at the front it will be necessary to build 2.000 'planes and 4,000 motors per month—viz.,Mß,ooo 'planes and 36,000 motors during the next nine months. Therefore, between January 1, 1918, "dnd December 31, 1918, the United States must build 22,000 'planes and 46,000 motors. '' This means a great effort on the part of the American factories. Tliey can make this effort, as they have already the buildings, the workmen, and part of the machinery needed. They have also a large number of the best scientists and technicians. The size of the orders given them will ensure obtaining the njoney necessary to organise the plants for then- construction.' " Two difficulties will he met at once. The first, that of skilled labor. In constructing airplanes, machines are not sufficient ; very good fitters are needed, and a great number of them also ; they must be taught the methods used in French and English factories.

./• ■ " The necessary steps should be taken to recruit these men as soon as possible, and in view of this the Board of Production is sending a commission, composed of skilled workmen, to France so that:they should study French methods used in the factories there. When finished they will return to. the United States, will apply all they have learned, and will be able to train the workmen as well. / WORK NIGHT AXD DAY. "The second difficulty is that ;of manufacturing quickly enough the machines and tools necessary. ■ for building such a large supply of 'planes, and Although the best American engineers are giving all their attention to : this, it will be impossible, I am afraid, to build these machines fast ejiougli so that, 011 January 1, 1918, each factory will be able to produce, not 10 motors per month, but 20 and 30. In my opinion, there is only one way in which this difficulty can be surmounted. It is to realise that the work must go on night and day, and, in consequence, to organise night shifts so that the machines will never be idle. 'he French workmen, when they understood how important it was to turn out for the front 'planes and motors in great, numbers and as rapidly as possible. did not hesitate to adopt night work, be- '' cause they knew that their work at tho factories would save' the lives of. their comrades who, during this time, were fighting in the trendies. . , '"ln order to examine every phase of these .problems of intensive American production we must take up the question of transportation from America to France TWO KINDS OF FACTORIES. " " From now until January, 1918, tho proposed construction of boats will augment • tonnage available, and this will permit the transportation of the 2.000 tons monthly. This represents the 4,000 motors which are to be sent every month. But 1 do not think it will be possible to transport the fuselages or bodies, which, though ' light in weight, take up a- great' deal of room ; therefore /it is important to consider the possibility of creating aviation factories in France. ~- There must be two kinds of factories

the first to -build the fuselages and to do all the wood construction, the second to repair the motors sent back from the front. . "I am convinced that the quickest way in which the United States can help the Allies is by aviation. In nine months from now, on April 1, 1918, I am sure it will be possible to have a corps of 5,000 aviators trained, equipped, and armed."