Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/279

 Popular Science Monthly

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���An efficient private aeroplane factory. All these Curtiss machines are going to Europe. The aeroplanes in sight in this picture are almost double the number that either our Army or Navy Aero Corps has in commission, if only the serviceable machines in both services are counted

��awakening to the shocking condition of army and naval affairs, particularly in the branch of aeronautics.

Mr. Alan Hawley, President of the Aero Club, the public-spirited organiza- tion that is leading the vast movement to supply the national guard and naval mil- itia of the various states with aeroplanes, said to the writer :

"So long as the appropriations for aeronautics for the Army and Navy are not sufficient to meet the actual need for aeroplanes and for the training of avi- ators, there is no justification for spend- ing the small amount available for fac- tories and experiments. The dozen or so aeroplane manufacturers and aero motor makers have shown that they are able to supply, in any quantity needed, the type of aeroplanes and motors re- c|uired, and they have assured us that they will be at all times ready to do their utmost in every way to supply the aero- nautical needs of the Army and Navy."

Mr. Augustus Post, one of the fathers of the Aero Club, an experienced bal- loonist and a pioneer aviator, gives us his views on the matter. He says in part :

"It would seem just at this time that

��it would be well to purchase what has already been perfected by the manufac- turers in this country and so well prov- en abroad, and that the Army and Navy might well devote their energies, at pres- ent at least, to training men to fly and in perfecting an aerial organization which could be moved where needed. The developments are bound to be so rapid in the near future that immediate steps must be taken to keep up with even the present rate of progress, and it would seem that rather than extensive laboratories, schools of flying should be established and the manufacture and in- ventive side of aeronautics left in the hands of those who are doing so well and who have accomplished so mtich." As was pointed out in the last issue of the Popular Science Monthly, the aviation corps of our Army and Navy are at the present time, rather ghastly jokes. Congress has continually over- looked aeronautical needs, and the little money appropriated has been sadly mis- spent. A recent court martial of one of the officers of our Army Aero Corps afforded the public a glimpse into the rottenness of affairs when politics are applied to our infant aeronautical ef- forts. If government manufacture is

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