Evening Star Newspaper, November 30, 1930, Page 69

Aviation BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. ACK of adequate promotion legis- lation for the Army Air Corps, long recognized as a serious han- dicap, has become “an outright menace to the continued efficiency ot tne Air Corps,” F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War, says in a forceful statement in his annual report, made public Fridey by the War Depart- ment. A visit to any of the tactical posts of the Air Corps or to its offices in the ‘War Department offers proof of the | fsuth of (he statement. The hopeless ress of the situation from the view- | point of the junior officer in the Alr Corps is fllustrated by the fact that of | the 494 first lieutenants in the corps more than 400 have had continuous service since the World War. For 12 years they have waited for promoticns Which never have come. The result hrs been thie loss by resiz- nation of valuab'e oZiizers, among th-m some of the mosi famous in the mili- | tary services, the imposition of unwar- ranted responsibilities on junior officers | and the undermining of morale to a| point where younger officers are in| danger of giving way to a_ spirit of | hopelessness which in time will develop into apathy. f The Air Corps tables of organization | specify that a major shall command | each squadron. There ere in service | today 53 squadrbns. Of the 53 only 5 | A Davison re-} headed by captains (nct first leutenants (quite a fow) and second lieutenants (several).” The spectacle of attaci and squadrons being commanced by lieutenants, Mr. Davison pointed out, is | one which should make defense-minded citizens ponder. Powerful “Shavetails.” “Consider,” he said, “one of our pur- suit squadrons commanded, as it is, by 8 junior officer—a second lleutenant— the lowest commissioned grade in the service. He is responsible for the lives and training of 18 fellow officers, the conduct of 129 enlisted men and the safe keeping of planes, armament, radio and other Government property as- signed to the squadron and worth more ! than half a million dollars. _Other in- stances could be cited. That these Junior officers perform their difficult Jjobs exceedingly well is splendid proof of their high caliber.” | It is obvious that for the good of the service, however, responsibility and rank should’ go hand in hand. The com-| missioned personnel of the Air Corps now is being supplied in the grade of second lieutenant only and of the 500 officers of this rank in the service| about 300 have had less than two years' commissioned service. Combat units of the service are suf- fering, Mr. Davison said, because senior officers with specialized training must | be diverted from the tactical organi- | zations to fill gaps in staff or special assignments. This drain upon the com- bat squadrons is further augmented by demands for senior officers to serve es| instructors in the various service schools | throughout the Army. Air Corps offi- cers also must be assigned to supervise and train Reserve and National Guard | squadrons. By the time these various | demands upon Ajr Corps personnel have | n met heavy jaroads have been made | upon the numerical strength of the service, and tactical organizations are | left to get elong as best they can. Congress will be asked to enact Alr Corps promotior. legislation during the coming session, as it has been asked to do annually for a number of years. It is to be hoped that the bill will receive favorable action and that this much- neQuddcd legislation finally will be en- acted. Another Defense Problem. Another prob'em of national defense, which is causing serious concern in official circles is the serious duplica- | tion which exists between the Army and Navy in carrying out coast defense du- | ties with landplanes. This duplication | is particularly felt in Panama and the Hawaiian Islands, | The services, because of the conflict- | ing duties charged to them, are incus ring unnecessary expenditures for nl-‘ tional defense and there is danger of confusion, inefficiency and bad feeling. | Efforts are being made to obtain so clear a definition of the border-line ac- tivities of Army and Navy air forces | t peace-time duplicaticn may ended. them will do the major flying for the expedition. Roll of the Explorers. chief pilot is Irving G. Hay, 24 years'ol. sorrof the noted Irish soldier of fortune, Capt. Patrick I O'Hay. Young Hay has had a varied career. He is a skiiled and able pilot, according to his friends, and was a tugboat cap- tain in Manhattan waters before taking to the air. The s:cond pilot, who also is second in command of the expedition, is Rob- ert Shippee, 20 years old, son of & wealthy broker. Shippee will serve as eologist and historian of the party, in addition to his duties as assistant to the leader and sccond pilot. The leader of the expedition is George R. Johnson, 30 years old, for- mer New York cameraman, fellow of the American Geographical Society and for two years chief photographer of the Peruvian Naval Air Service. His experi- ences while in Peru £nd the informa- tion he received concerning the lost s of the early Indian civilization in 'arge par( responsible for the undertaking of this Winter's trip. The fourth member of the party is| Valentine Van Keuren, 30 years old, vice president of the airport at Red Bank, N. J., United States headquar- ters for the group Van Keuren is a civil engineer and will act in this ca- pacity when the scientific work of the party begins ‘The final member is Max Distel, 24 airplane pilot and mechanic, who will be In charge of the maintenance of the tlon’s planes. ywing the christening ceremonies nes were fown back r instalation of fir il ‘Chey ucvn to Roosevelr Fid, N. Y., w g and crating and will be aboard the S. S. Santa Marla, which leaves for Peru December 5. The vlanes will be assembled on the Peruvian sea- coast and will be flown back into the wild country for the few months of the Andean Summer, which begins as Win- ter is settling down in this country. The young explorers will face many hardships and dangers during the trip and there will be many hours of flving during which their lives and the fate of the studies they are planning to make will depend upon the two American air- plane engines they are taking with them. The rewards they are expected to reap will be secrets of archeological, geo- graphic = geological importance, which have bcen hidden for centuries 2mong the Inaccessible and jagged South American mcuntains. Flood Mapping Completed. With the assisterce of 2lmost ideal weather conditions, civilian acrial pho- tographers and mappers virtually have completad, within a month, the work of phctographing 900 square miles of Mississippi Valley area for the United States Government in connection with the flood control program. The con- tract allowed six months for the opera- tion and it has been estimated that at least five months weculd be required, since some 14.000 individual negatives had to be taken, Involving 50,000 miles of fly:ng. At the close of one month of work, however, the fleld force reported that 8,470 of the 8.900 square miles had teen photographed, an average daily activity of 282 square miles. During the month 13,000 negatives were exposed in more than 400 hours of flying time. The speed of the operation, it was pointed out, testifies to the aid which properly organized aerial survey can render civil engineers in development programs of all kinds. “'The savings effected in backbreaking labor and years of time to make ground surveys over the difficult and often swampy terrain would justify the use of an aerial survey even if its use did not. also represent a material saving in cost to the Goverrment over ground meth- | ods,” said Maj. E. H. Brainard, head of the = Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, \:hn"h carried cut the Government con- ract. Four aerial survey crews were used in the work. They used four single- engined cabin monoplanes for high alti- tude operations and carrying fuel for eight hours of continuous operation. Photographic laboratories were built and 12 men were assigned to the task of developing and printing, indexing, plot- ting and calculating control points of the photographs. On several good days as many as 16 rolls of film were exposed, each roll being composed of 100 separate films, and areas of approximately 1,500 square | miles being covered. Fljing Into the Andes. | ‘Thos#"Who think that because avia- | tion has become one of the regular | transport mediums, it has lost the ele- ment of romance which marked its | early development. may have their faith Tenewed by the efforts of an expedi- tion scheduled for this Winter ints the remote fastnesses of the Peruvian Andes to find and study lost cities of the en- cient Incas and the yet more ancient Yuncas, Members of the party range in age from 20 to 30 years and constitute what is said to be the youngest group ever assembled for a major scientific expe. dition. They visited the National Capi- tal during the past week for the christening of the two Bellanca cabin monoplanes to be used for the work of exploration The expedition will wed aviation to | archeology and the roar of their air- plane motors will be neard in places white men have seldom or re where centuries ago mountain cities of tions and semi-civil precise degree of civilization of the old | Legion to Celebrate. Thoughts of members of the D. C. Air Legion, local private flying’ club, will turn from flying to food—it is hoped—when the second annual ban- quet is held Wedresdey in the Lee House Since the Legion took to the air for the first time cn November 6, 1928, its planes have flown between 1,500 and 2,000 instruction hours and nearly 50 embers have soloed, 30 of them during past year. The legion has pur- chased three airplanes out of income, soloed 50 members, graduated 120 from its ground school classes and become recognized nationally as one of the country’s leading clubs of its kind. Guests of honor at the banquet, will | be Lieut. W. 8. Buell, flight instructor, and Lieut. Noble C. Shilt, ground school instructor of the organization. Both are Army Alr Corps Rescrve officers. Between the olives and other edibles there will be remarks, some of which ¥ attain to the dignity of speeches. Unfortunate Aircraft Man. C. G. Gray, noted British aeronauti- HE SuiuAY dSacl, WADLLLGILY LR 1930—PAR MororiNG IN OLb KENTUCKY Maysville may mofor today, the trails of cour- ageous men will be crossed and. recrossed. many times. This stone in Poneer Memorial State Park at Harrodsburg is a Kentucky fribute to the daring of George Rogers Clark. w The NEW ESSE OTHER BODY MODELS AS ATIRACTIVELY PRICED = — . > g et IXTY-EIGHT years. have fi”d since this pleasing bit of landscape was the Ssoenc ofomgofl’hewor most useless hul;fi-l Perryville,and now reached via a began firing at 20¢clock on the afternoon of October 8,1862. The battle was until dark and when nightfall came the result was a tactical victory only for Southern arms, SUPER SIX COACH or 2-PASSENGER. COUPE SPECIAL —BY JAMES W. BROOKS. (Sketches by Calvin A. Fader.) (Title resisteved U. 6. Patent Office.) 4 THIS i a memdrial paid to the dead by the living-a monument fo Southern men who- fell on the Battlefield at Perryville Tothe visitor who treads these quiet grounds, monuments fothe men on either side may mean little, but they should mean much, for they mark the road to Peace. Awo miles west of road, opposing, forces in the Gvil War @Ancaican Hianway Esveationar Bursau 50 EQUIPMENT EXTRA . ALL PRICES F. O. B. DEIROIT ’We invade a new field with vastly improved cars at the lowest prices in our history”’ BY WILLIAM J. McANEENY President, Hudson Motor Car Company WE have built these models up to and beyond the 1931 standards of performance and quality in every way, and have never in our his- tory offered so many improvements. Quality is greater down to the last detail. Every phase of performance has been greatly improved, and the luxury we have built into the cars is substantially greater than ever before. Motors are larger and more powerful. An efficient system of oil cool- ing is introduced. A marked improvement in carburetion increases flexibility and economy. Bodies are longer and wider. These cars possess the finest, easiest riding qualities. For the first time, such comfort is available at these low prices. Only great manufacturing economies and the fact that our large resources permit us to take the fullest possible advantage of reduced commodity prices have enabled us to offer the public the greatest combination of quality and low prices in our entire history. 4 tribes, which bullt roads and cities in | €al writer, in one of his delightful the Peruvian Andes and the expedition | tTeatises on the “lighter side” of science, 18 expected to shed considerable light in | tells the story of an unfortunate, ener- some of the darker corners. The area the youthful explorers will study is that which was In forgotten centuries the homes of tribes of the Yunca Indian | stock near what now Is ‘Truxilla, Peru. | They also will cover some of the larger territory which was the stamping ground of the succes ors 1) the Yuiics the Incas, who were of or ginal Ke stork end who scttied in tie : River count"y. bectme the most prog sive tribe of South American Indians, occupying the Andean Sierras and ex- ercising control of tribes in the areas now composing Peru, Ecuador and | Northwestern Bolivia. Their power ex- tended into the highiands and the low- | lands and they held sway until th Bpanish oonquest, which broke their | Tule, To Seek Massive Cities. The architecture of the lost cities for which the party will search probably | will be of massive hewn stone type de- veloped by the Incas to stand for cen- in a land frequently visited by earthquakes. The wal's of Inca tem- | ples, palaces and other principal struc- | tures are bullt of enormous s:ores, of | {rregular shapes, so skillfully fitted to- ether that no mortar is required to Bifd them into permanent union | The Yuncas were conquered by the Incas and the Incas in turn by Pizzaro’s Spaniards. Jong bave “gen abandoned an % wo wecurate scientific knov ing some of them. especially far off the beaten trails. Members of the expedition expect to | sclentific return not only with real data, but also with complete photo- phic records of every phase of ihe p. One of the planes has been equipped with engine supercharger for high altitude work and will be used “or photographic mapping of the areas studied. Aerial “stilis” and motion pic- tures of the spois of interest will be made. aJespite their youth, the members of the e: nnen h’; had careers which are'fve of are five an alrplane pilot, though only two of getic aircraft man in the Royal Alr Force, the unwitting victim of an error of applied science. An airplane had crashed at gn air for aetodrome, Mr. Gray said, and, as usual, everybody in sight rushed to pull out the victims. The first to reach s the unfortunate, ener- armed with the fuselage and ay toward the im- ren he had burrowed half his lengih into the wreckage, an equally | energetic medical officer also arrived, armed with the tools of his trade. See- ing part of a struggling figure in R. A. P. uniform protruding from the wreck- ge, the medico drew his hypodermic syringe, jabbed it into the latter end |of the apparent victim and adminis- tered a hearty shot of dope to quiet his struggie and make easter extrica~ tion from the tangle of wires and struts, Whereupon the aircraft man ceased to be encrgetic and remained only unfor- tunate. Many Britons Own Planes. TLers are 295 privately owned air- planes in Great Britain, according to a repert to the Department of Commerce. One person owns four planes while more than 20 own two each. Twenty- ‘The ancient elties | AYe of the pianes belong to_women. AVIATION Needs Aireraft Engineers and Draftsmen COLUMBIA “TECH” ches of Drafting b e A D Day and Evening Se SCHOOL 1319 F St. NW. Metro. 5626 Owner- t Permits Exclusive Value Advantages Owner-management enables Hudson-Essex to give you outstanding advantages in quality and price. 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