Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1932, Page 72

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 28 1932 nately. Carefully an engineer explained what was wrong. “The tags show exactly how it should be done. Get the tags in the right orager,” said the engineer, “and everything will be all right.” Half an hour later the Chinese me- chanics announced that they had com- pleted the job. The planes themselves had not been touched, but the tags had been untied and shifted to their proper positions. I don’t know whether that story about the 130 twelve-year-old planes is true or not:; during the years I was in China I did not hear of that shipment being in the country. But i. does represent a fair picture of the condition of China's air force as eompared to the ultra modern aviation units of Japan. Every advantage, so far as equipment, personnel and numbers are concerned, rests with the land of the Mikado. Japan has seven times the airplanes, pilots and ground personnel as Central China. Her pilots are infinitely better trained; she has at least half a dozen well financed factories capable of turning out military ships fitted with the latest devices of war. Her airdromes and airways compare fa- vorably with those of any other nation. China, on the cther hand, has only a handful of planes, and many of them are obsolete. Her pilots are more or less in- dividualists, and are poorly trained; dur- ing my months in China I did not see a single fiight in close formation. She has but six or seven airdromes, all more or less poorly equipped. In all China there is not one airplane factory that can com- pare with the poorest of those in Japan. The advantages seem overwhelmingly in favor of Japan, and yet the Nipponese would think twice before sending their fleet and army transports and their air- craft carriers and immensely superior foree of planes up the Yangtze River to- ward the interior of China at this time of the year—a move which Japan almost certainly would want to make should China declare war. The Japanese would not hesitate on account of the numerous fortifications that are strung at strategical points on both sides of the river all the way up to Chungking, 1,200 miles inland. And some of these forts are nothing to laugh at— witness the troubles the Japanese have had with the Woosung fortifications. O, the Japanese would be afraid of the tiny little Chinese air force. For, although the Chinese don’t have num- bers or equipment on their side, they do have allies which, at this time of the year, are even more powerful. First, they have the elements—the fogs, the pre- vailing winds and the depth of water in the Yangtze River. Second, they have the topography of the country. Third, they have the very backwardness of the Chinese nation. China is probably thanking her lucky Confucius right now that she has been a slow, non-progressive nation, and has not built any modern overland trans- portation routes into her rich interior. Beyond Nanking there are no railroads which the Japanese could use for the mass movement of troops and supplies, and no good roads. If the Japanese are to move vast num- bers of men and war materials to the in- terior of China they must depend upon their fleet and the Yangtze River. And here the YangtZe comes to China’s aid. It offers a highly important natural bar- ricade to the movement of Japan's fleet and troop transports. Right now the river is more shallew than at any other time during the year—the water varies about 45 feet in depth from' Winter to Summer—and none of Japan’s men of war, and probably none of her transport carriers, can proceed much beyond Nan- king. There are further natural barriers that would enfeeble any massed air attack by the Japanese. Day in and day out at this season a low-hanging, extremely thick ground fog blankets virtually the entire length of the Yangtze River, ex- tending 20 miles or more inland on either side of the stream. This fog is usually 1,000 feet thick, with another stratum of heavy cumulus clouds, starting at 3,000 feet and extending upward to 8,000, stretching overhead. For some reason, when flying above this first stratum of heavy clouds, one can follow the river’s course in its many peculiar turns and twists with fair ac- curacy. Time and again I have crawled up through the fog and flown above it for 50, 100 or 150 miles, and all the time have knovm exactly where I was—finally, to come down through the fog blanket an? find moeclf dii:ctly above the river bank. (We could usually see the ground when we came dgwn to within 100 feet.) But I would not advise any pilot, re- gardless of how good he is, to try that until he has flown over the river at least several times in clear weather and has familiarized himself thoroughly not only with the numerous sharp bends in the stream, but also with the islands in mid- river and the occasional mountain peaks —some of them from 300 to 1,000 feet high—that sometimes come almost down to the river's edge. FTEN the fog is so dense that even pilots theroughly familiar with every peculiarity of the river's course are forced down. Many times I found the fog tco much for me and had to come down and take my chances with the river pirates, of which there are thou- sands. Wheneve I would land on the river hundreds of them—occasionally it seemed like thousancs—would appear al- most instantly. They aren't a serious menace to planes; foriunately a plane can taxi away from them fasier than they can maneuver their junks and sam- pans, and if they start firing, as they sometimes did (I have a number of holes shot in the wings of my plane), it is al- ways possible to hedge hop away from them. But let a river steamer or a barge run aground, which happens almost daily, due to the ever-shifting silt, and the bandits will make short work of it. But the main point is that this ever- lasting fog over the river would cripple the airplane carrier with its airplanes. Should there come a clear day, or should there be holec in the fog, and the Japanese should send out squadrons of their best and fastest fighting ships in an attempt to bring down the Chinese pilots hovering overhead ready to bomb Japan’s fleet, the chances are that the fog would have blanketed the mother ship again within an hour and that the Japanese airplanes and pilots would be captured. Even should it remain clear all day, there is no guaranty that the Japanese planes would find a single Chinese ship in the air. And after they had cruised around and dropped a few bombs, and their gas supply had run low, they would find it almost impossible to land on their mother ship. For which the Chinese again can thank the Yangtze River—that and the prevailing winds at this time of the year. For the Yangtze flows east and west, and every day from now until May there is a constant north wind blowing over the valley. A plane must land into the wind, but unless that wind is fairly strong, the landing deck of the mother ship isn’t long enough. The carrier must give the plane some help by steaming directly against the wind, which has the effect of producing a longer landing space. But the Yangtze is too narrow for the carrier to sail across stream, and nine days out of ten the wind isn’t strong enough for planes to land without any help from the mother ship. Yet—stiil more fortunate for the Chinese—the wind is too strong for cross-wind land- ings. But if the day should happen to be clear of ground fog, why couldn’t the Japanese send out their seaplanes and amphibians, which could land on the water and be hoisted aboard their mother ships? They could. But if Gen. Chang Hui-chang and his colleagues haven’t cracked them all up in the last year, the Central Chinese government has at least 65 Wasp-powered Vought Corsair pursuit fighters that are armed to the teeth. These are lighter and faster than Japan’s heavy, slow seaplanes and am- phibians, and, with capable handling, should be able to force the Japanese ships out of the sky. And don’t forget that whether or not there is a ground fog the heavy cumulus clouds that range from 3,000 t0,8,000 feet are always there, and would offer an effective screen for the Vought Corsairs. they had forced the Japanese seaplanes down, they could liesurely fly over the fleet, and, hidden by the clouds, release their bomb loads before returning to their in- land base, perhaps a hundred miles or more away. The anti-aircraft guns on the Japanese men-of-war would have small chance of bringing down any of the Chinese planes. THERE is another possibility for an air attack on the interior Yangtze Val- ley. What is to prevent the Japanese land planes from flying across country over the valley? A natural question, and the answer is: Nothing but the togoz- raphy of the valley itself. Except for the few mountain peaks I have mentioned, the whole region is as flat as a pancake, national guard, but the valley floor is cut up everywhere with canals running in all directions— thousands upon thousands of them. In between these canals there is hardly a square foot of land that isn’t cut up into rice patties or given over to small groups of huts or covered with burial mounds, which are to be found by the million. You can't make a landing on terrain like that. But there the fortunes that now favor China end, and even these will disappear with the coming of Summer, for by the middle of May the fogs will have lifted, the Yangize will be deep enough to per- mit large men-of-war and airplane car- riers to ascend the river, and even the prevailing north wind will be a thing of the past. Of course, should China de- clare war on Japan she probably would utilize the months before the middle of May for the planting of mines and depth bombs in the Yangtze and the overhaul- ing of her fortifications, and thus delay the arrival of a hostile fleet. With the end of Spring, however, Japan's greatly superior strength in the air would make itself felt, and this su- periority is terrific. Roughly speaking, China has a total of 300 airplanes, 500 pilots and 2,000 men. This includes the entire air force—army, navy, marine, reserves and private owned. She probably could scare up a few more from other provincial war lords, rebels and bandits. The air armada consists of every con- ceivable type of plane—pursuit, attack, observation, bombers and amphibians, seaplanes, multi and single motored transports, training ships and hedge hoppers. Most of these planes have been built in foreign countries—America, France, Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Hol- land, Belgium and Japan. The dozen or so homemade ships are peculiar look- ing contraptions; they are all made along curved lines, even to the wings and struts, for the Chinese still cling firmly to their ancient belief that the devil can travel on and inhabit only something that is built in a straight line. There are no airplane factories worthy of the name in all China. In 1918 one was set up at Nambi Foochow to produce planes for the Chinese Navy, and manu- factured a seaplane that they called Chiang-Hung, but this factory now has ceased production. The various military airdromes have produced a few odd-look- ing jobs from time to time, but they were of little account and probably are cracked up or hurned by now. In walking through the stock rooms of the various military airdromes one is surprised to find an enormous stock of pre-war aircraft, engines and parts of every conceivable make and description, from virtually every foreign country. The “foreign devils”—as the Chinese call us— certainly unloaded a lot of junk on the poor Chinese, and probably at high prices. China’s main airdromes are at Shang- hai, Nanking, Hankow, Canton and Muk- den. A few of the hangars are modern concrete structures, but some of the fields have achieved the luxury of hangars by the cheap process of tying a bamboo framework together and covering it with mats. There are 15 or 20 of these “mat” shed hangars at Shanghai, against two or three of concrete. The Mikado’s air force consists of 350 pursuit fighters, 400 observation planes, 50 light bombers and 25 heavy bombers, with a personnel of 2,100 pilots and 8,000 men. In addition, the navy is said to have an almost equal number of planes, with more than 9,000 officers and enlisted men. There are also three aircraft car- riers, with a fourth nearing completion; of these China has none. Many of the Japanese planes are man- factured in the country’s six large fac- tories. The largest of these, the Mitsu- bishi Aircraft Co., has its headquarters at Tokio, with plants at Nagoya and Shibaura. ‘The Nagoya works alone cover 59 acres and have a constant peace-time working force of more than 2,000 men. Planes of Japanese design are manufactured there; the company also has the rights to pro- duce various American, British, French and German planes and parts. THROUGHOUT the country there are nearly 100 well equipped airdromes, some of them with night lighting and coming up to our own highest Depart- ment of Commerce ratings. The ma- jority, however, are smaller. 8o far as training is concerned, there is really no comparison between the Japanese and Chinese pilots. The former have extremely modern schools, superior in every way to the smaller and fewer and more casual institutions in which = e —————————————————— the Chinese war-bird learns to try his wings. In teaching a Chinese to fly you have to be extremely careful not to make any mistakes the first time you show him anything new. Otherwise it's just too bad. Regardless of how often you try to correct your first mistake and teach him the right procedure, he will insist on do- ing it the way you first showed him. The Japanese may be better all-around pilots, but when it comes to bombing I'll back the Chinese every time. I don’t believe any of us have it over the Chi- nese flyers in that science. Even without bomb sights they are better marksmen than the Japanese. Many people won't agree with me in this, I know; but I am speaking from personal observation. I came in from my run cne afternoon just as Gen. Chang Hui-chang was about to take off. He waved to me to come along. As I climbed into his plane I noticed that the bomb racks were full and wondered what sort of an expedition I had joined. The general wasn't very communicative. Silently we tock off and headed up into Hunan Province, about 150 miles north of Hankow. Below us I could see a group of tents pitched in a field, with perhaps 200 or 300 men gath- ered about them. Evidently bandits. The general circled above the tents, and, coming closer to the ground, passed di- rectly over them. I saw one bomb go hurtling down toward the tents, then an- other and another, until all six had been dropped It was perfect marksmanship —too per- fect for Gen. Chang Hui-chang’s com- posure. His face was pale as he turned about and headed back for the airdrome. And I have seen other exhibitions of bombing by other Chinese pilots that were every bit as accurate. Chang was one of the first Chinese to learn to fly. A small, wiry man, who still retains his boyishness, although he is now 40. Chang was sent to Americg by his government in 1912 to attend the Walter Varney School of Aviation in San Francisco. In a short time he was back in China teaching others the mastery of the air. He is a capable pilot, but he has had his share of crack-ups. I saw one of them at Nanking, and for a minute or two I thought he had made his last land- ing. He was flying a Junker seaplane, and, in bringing it down for a landing, he didn’t straighten it out scon enough. The pontoons dug into the water, bring- ing the front of the plane to a dead stop. The rear half, however, kept on going; the plane snapped in the middle and the tail flopped over into the water. We got Chang out without any difficulty. In 15 minutes he was taking off again in an- other plane. Gen. Art Limm, China’s second air fighter, took to the air even earlier than Chang. Born in San Francisco, he per- suaded the Christoforsen brothers to teach him to fly in 1911, and when he had mastered the art he, too, went to China and joined the air corps. These are China’s ranking aces. Should a general war come between China and Japan these will be the men upon whom China must lean most heavily to defend their land against a far larger and more modern air armada. Mine Lflufl(‘hifig Cost{y LAND owner who might be so fortunate ag to discover that he had lead and zinc deposits underlying his land would feel that he was in possession of a large fortune thereby, but between the discovery and the realization of his hopes stands a huge question of expense in preparation to resume miliing of his metal. The Bureau of Mines has made a consider= able study of the cost of exploiting newly dis- covered lead and zinc depocits and finds that, under the most favorable eonditions and the most economic development, it would reguire about $225,000 before a single pound of metal would be produced. The bureau experts take as an example a mine of 350-ton capacity located on a tract of 80 acres underlain with the ore at a minimum depth. The law would exact a toll of $3,500 in the necessary expense involved in preparing the necessary papers required to mine, build and operate the plant. The exploration of the field to discover if the metal be of sufficient extent ‘to warrant development would require $40,000. The dewatering or draining of the field would require another $25,000. The development of the mine itself would cost $40.000, while the erection of the mill would add about $100,000 to the cost. These major expenses, with some minor ones, would call for a huge outlay and might easily stand as a barrier between the fortunate owner of the metal deposits and the cash he would like to realize thereon. 2,700 Plants Make Cheese HE cheese industry in this country is exe tensive, more than 2,709 factorics being ene gaged in the production of the various types manufactured here. The annua! output, based on normal prices, is valued at more than $130,000,000.