Evening Star Newspaper, June 5, 1940, Page 13

U. S. Planes Needed For Training Pilofs Estimated at 6,000 Army to Keep Policy 3 Of Primary Instruction In Civilian Schools By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. Fleets of military training air- planes larger in number than the total strength of the Army air force legally authorized a year ago will be required to train the pilots re- quired under existing expansion plans for the Army and Navy. The Navy alone has estimated its training plane requirements at 2,800 airplanes and the Army Air Corps, with a far larger training task con- fronting it under the emergency expansion program, is expected to require a considerably larger num- ber before its expansion effort reaches its peak | Nearly 6.000 training airplanes, it is estimated, will be required, nearly as rapidly as they can be made, to | meet the requirements of the mili- | tary services for emergency pilot | training. A limit of 5,500 airplanes | was put on the Army Air Corps under the initial expansion program authorized at the request of Presi- dent Roosevelt following the Mu- nich pact of September, 1938, which | first put the world on its guard | against Nazi ambitions. Details Emerging. Although plans for the training programs of both Army and Navy are in the formative period and can- | not be launched definitely until | President Roosevelt has signed | pending appropriaton bills for mili- tary purposes, some details of the | training task ahead of the two serv- fces are beginning to emerge. The Army Air Corps will adhere to its policy—proved and found suc- cessful during the past year—of giv- ing primary training to its military pilots in civilian air training schools. Congressional sanction for a liberal- ization of this policy is being sought. | After three months in the civilian | schools, under Army supervision, six months of training will follow at | the Air Corps training center, San | Antonio, Tex, or a total of nine months of training. The Navy expects to continue its training along present lines, with a necessary major expansion of its facilities. To speed up its training activities, however, the Navy is working out final details of a pro- gram which will provide only seven months of training for new pilots before thev go into the Navy and Marine Corps squadrons. Primary training will be given naval candidates at 13 naval avia- tion reserve bases, one of them the Anacostia station. The Navy now has but one base for the advanced | training of pilots—the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., where ap- proximately 500 training planes now are in operation. Base Planned in Texas. Tt is planned to create a new haval aviation training base which is expected to duplicate the Pensacola plant, at Corpus Christi, Tex. In | case of emergency the Navy also | may transfer the new $17,000,000 naval aviation base now under cun—i struction at Jacksonville, Fla. to | its school establishment. Although | Congress has not yet appropriated for the Corpus Christi station, it is believed this new base probably will be in opeation for training pur- poses before the Jacksonville base can be completed, about November | 1, 1942, | The Army Air Corps now is send- ing its flying cadets to nine civilian schools for primary training. This | number will be increased to any | nhecessary total in keeping with funds allocated by Congress for Army pilot training. The Army, like the Navy, also must increase its facili- | ties for advanced pilot training and proposes to do so by transferring operating posts of the general head- | quarters air force, such as Hamilton | Field and March Field, Calif.;| Barksdale Field, La., and Mitchel | Field, N. Y., or Selfridge Field, Mich., to the Air Corps training center for conversion into schools. Scott Field, Ill, and Lowry Field, | Colo, already have been converted into schools for mechanic training | purposes to supplement the inade- quate facilities at Chanute Field, il The Air Corps program for the eurrent fiscal year provides for a total of 4.663 officers, Regular and | Reserve. and for 45,000 enlisted men, including 1,200 flying cadets. Grad- uation of this whole number of cadets would provide a grand total of less than 6.000 Air Corps pilots; attrition considered. the number would be 5,500 or less. This total is far short of the total required even for the air force of 5500 airplanes authorized for the Air Corps under the current regular and emergency appropriations, since bombers carry at least two pilots and the necessity for relief crews to keep modern i: ARS DIRECT OPEN DAILY 9:30 A. M. TO 11:30 P. M. GLEWN EEH FREE ADMISSION AMUSEMENT PARK SWILd reet ONE OF THE FINEST IN ALL AMERICA et — FOR _ CHILDREN flg\@ UNDER 12 YEARS OR IF YOU BUY A 10-SWIM TICKET FOR ONE DOL- LAR'TIS Per Swim fl@f FOR ADULTS OR 4@@ IF YOU BUY A 10-SWIM TICKET FOR TWO-FIFTY ’TIS Per Swim %{’ THESE PRICES ARE FOR EVERY DAY AND INCLUDE SWIM, STEEL LOCKER, FREE CHECKING OF VALUABLES AND USE OF SAND BEACH THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1940. LONDON.—QUEEN AT WESTMINSTER—Queen Wilhelmina of Holland leaving the Abbey with the dean of Westminster May 25, when she attended prayers at the Abbey. The empire ob- served a day of prayer at the request of the King. Photo passed by the British censor. —Wide World Photos. military aircraft operating on an efficient basis in case of war re- quires at least two full crews per airplane. Civilian Schools Hailed. The secret of expansion of Army pilot training, however, lies in the civilian schools, opened last year with considerable misgiving on the part of the Air Corps. The ele- mentary training of military pilots at these schools, according to Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, chief of the | Air Corps, “has proved successful | o LD | Use of the C. A. A. graduates as a | national reservoir of partly trained | bevond expectation.” Six classes of 396 cadets each had been sent to the civilian schools up to this spring and the first four | classes graduated a total of 1.008 | cadets, or 62.7 per cent of the total number starting. This percentage is higher than for primary training at the Air Corps Training Center under the old system. The decrease in the number of students “washed out” during primary training in the civilian schools was attributed by Gen. Arnold to the increased indi- vidual attention which can be given in. view of the comparatively small groups involved. To have given Government train- | ing of the type being given now in | the nine civilian schools would have | cost $15.000,000 for additional train- ing facilities and a delay of a year and a half while these facilities were being constructed, Air Corps officers | | have estimated. Even West Point graduates are going to the civilian schools for their primary flight training. Of the 465 West Pointers graduated last June, 149 met physical requirements and went into the Air Corps. Assigned to the nine civilian schools, 40 of them were “washed out” in three months, being eliminated for lack of aptitude for flying or other rea- sons. Another 10, who got through the three months’ primary training, were eliminated in advanced train- ing at Randolph Field, Tex. 180 Pass at West Point. In the present West Point gradu- ating class, 260 took the examina- tions for the Air Corps and - 180 passed. They will be sent to the civilian primary schools this sum- mer and a total of about 120 of them are expected to earn their wings and go into the combat squad- rons during 1941. On the basis of past experience, the Air Corps had estimated that an average of 15 hours of flying would be required for each flying | cadet who was washed out. The civilian instructors, however, appar- ently were not disposed to be hasty about eliminating cadets and the average went up to 23 hours. | The Civil Aeronautics Authority’s civil pilot training program, under which approximately 10.000 pilots now are completing training which | has qualified or will Chrysler’s AIRTEMP "(00L, BREEZE" A SUMMER AIR-CONDITIONER ANYONE CAN AFFORD For offices, dining rooms, bedrooms. Fits easily in any window—no piping or special wiring plug it in any light socket as you do your radio. Chrysler’s Airtemp “Cool Breeze” is Priced As Low As SUMMER COMFORT IS INEXPENSIVE AT LOW PEPCO RATES Call ME. 4840 for full informatien and prices @lmm- ONSUMERS @MPANY | ing the first 30 hours and the mili- | permit the bureau to construct the | sary for a national emergency, ac- | training operations at the 13 reserve a few of them for private pilots’ certificates, does not give the same training, in hours or in kind, pro- vided by the Air Corps civilian schools. The C. A. A. averages 30 hours per pilot, while the Air Corps primary training provides an aver- age of 65 hours per pilot. Most of the “washing out” that is going to take place, however, will occur dur- tary services will reap this much benefit from the C. A. A. training. | pilot material is expected to con- tribute markedly to the efficiency | of the military training schools and to reduce the cost of military train- ing. Projects Declared Vital. The Navy Department proposed to Congress the inclusion in the 1941 regular appropriation bill of $38,300.000 for the purchase of airplanes for training and $45,375,- 000 for the Bureau of Yards and Docks for expansion of aviation training facilities alone. This would new Corpus Christi base recom- mended by the Hepburn Board. to convert the Jacksonville base and to expand the reserve base at Miami. All of these expansion proj- ects are needed to train the pilots | considered as the minimum neces- | cording to Rear Admiral John H. Towers, chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, | Admiral Towers, saying that the $38,300,000 for training planes would provide only 800 such airplanes, told & congressional committee that he would have recommended $100,000,- 000 foryithis purpme, to provide|: 1735 training planes, bringing the Navy total to 2,800 planes. This number, it is estimated, will}, == be necessary to equip the new train-' ing bases and to carry on primary bases. It has not been planned, so far, to increase the number of these piimary training bases. The Navy Department's basic plan calls for the training by July 1, 1644, of the total number of | pilots required for a major war, | regardless of the number of air- planes which might actually be made available in the meantime. REVOLVING CLEANS TEETH VERTICALLY PREVENTS CROSS BRUSHING. Price, 59c Refllls, 20c LIGGETT'S DRUG STORES. necessary. Just 1413 New York Ave. N. W. 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