Senate Committee's Report
The shortage of aircraft for the American Army in France has been the subject of investigation by the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate, following the sensational disclosures regarding German control of the air in the sector held by the Americans, [see Current History Magazine, April, 1918, Pp. 12-14.] The Senate Committee was not unanimous, and two reports were presented on April 12, 1918, differing as to the causes of delay in the execution of the airplane program.
The substance of the majority report is contained in the following extracts:
The Signal Corps has established and is now conducting twenty aviation training schools in the United States. Four additional schools are in process of construction and are expected to be finished in June next.
The aggregate capacity of the schools now in operation is something over 3,000 cadets; 1,926 have thus far been graduated from this primary training course and commissioned as reserve military aviators. Very few of these have received their advanced training in this country.
In addition to the above, the Signal Corps, acting upon the invitation of the several Entente Governments, dispatched some 1,200 cadets to England, France, and Italy last year, who were to receive primary and advanced training in aviation schools of those countries. The experience of a great many of these men has been most unfortunate in that at some of the schools a very serious delay has occurred in providing them with the training planes, which it was expected would be manufactured in foreign factories in sufficient numbers. As a result, several hundred of the American cadets have been practically idle and have made no progress. About 450 of them are reported as having completed the primary training, after long delay.
The Signal Corps is giving serious consideration to the advisability of bringing the remainder back to the United States to be trained. With the exception of this severe disappointment, the primary training of our aviators, according to the testimony of the aviation officials, appears to be progressing favorably.
For some time after the inception of the work the output of primary training planes in this country for use in our schools gave ground for grave concern. In recent weeks, however, the output has been greatly increased, and there seems to be no doubt of the Signal Corps having an amply sufficient number in the future. On April 1, 1918, 3,458 primary training planes had been completed. The advanced training planes are being turned out in accordance with the schedule and estimates laid down at the inception of their manufacture. In advanced training planes four types are being made, the total number up to date manufactured being 342. In these planes three types of engines will be used, of which 965 have been completed. The Liberty motor is not suitable for use in these planes.
It is apparent from the evidence that the twelve-cylinder Liberty motor is just emerging from the development or experimental stage. Since the original design and the setting up of the first completed motor in July, 1917, a large number of changes have been found necessary, many of them causing delay in reaching quantity production. Within the last two months changes of considerable importance have been made which, it is hoped, will make the motor serviceable for combat planes of the defensive type and for bombing and observation planes.
Twenty-two thousand five hundred Liberty motors have been ordered, 122 have been completed for the army, and 142 for the navy. Four have been shipped overseas. Some of those already delivered are being altered to overcome the defects ascertained during the last few weeks. It is understood, however, that these alterations will consume but a very short time.
The production of Liberty motors to date is, of course, gravely disappointing. The Government officials having the manufacture of the Liberty motor in charge have made the mistake of leading the public and the allied nations to the belief that many thousands of these motors would be completed in the Spring of 1918.
The production of combat planes in the United States for use in actual warfare has thus far been a substantial failure and constitutes a most serious disappointment in our war preparations. We had no design of our own; neither did we adopt any one of the European designs until months after we entered the war. In all, five types, at one time or another, have been adopted. Two of them have been abandoned after the expenditure of much time and money. The three remaining types still left upon our program are now in the course of manufacture. Of these the largest and most powerful is the Handley-Page heavy bombing machine, designed to carry as many as six men, eight machine guns, and a heavy load of bombs, and to be driven by two Liberty motors. The testimony before your committee shows that the Signal Corps finally decided upon the manufacture of a number of sets of parts of this machine about Jan. 1, 1918. Officials of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps testify that they do not expect the completion of the first set of parts in this country before June, 1918.
Another type of combat plane, known as the De Haviland, is included in our program. This machine habitually carries two men, four machine guns, a moderate load of bombs and other apparatus and is driven by one Liberty motor. Fifteen have been completed; one has been shipped to France; the remaining fourteen have been very recently completed in this country.
The third type upon the program is known as the Bristol fighter. This machine is lighter and faster than the De Haviland. Its speed is expected to be in the neighborhood of 125 miles per hour. It is what is known as a reconnoissance machine. Another term which might be properly applied to it is "defensive fighter." It carries two men, four machine guns, and is driven by one Liberty motor. The decision to make this type was reached on Nov. 7, 1917. The manufacturers completed the first of these machines during the week ended March 30, 1918. The machine was tested once during that week with a Liberty motor, and, according to the testimony of the aviation officials, met its preliminary test successfully. This machine, a few hours after its flight, caught fire while standing upon the aviation ground and was entirely destroyed. The officials of the Signal Corps assured the committee that another machine would soon be finished by the manufacturer, and that if it met the tests satisfactorily quantity production might be expected within a reasonable period.
In addition to the American production of engines and airplanes as herein set forth, considerable orders for combat airplanes and engines were last Summer placed with European manufacturers by General Pershing, and we have furnished quantities of material and numbers of mechanics to aid in their construction.
Your committee is convinced that much of the delay in producing completed combat airplanes is due to ignorance of the art and to failure to organize the effort in such a way as to centralize authority and bring about quick decision.
Further light is thrown on the production of aircraft for the American Army by the minority report. One passage reads:
Soon after the war began the Signal Corps arranged with the French Government for the making of 6,100 combat planes at a total cost of $127,000,000, the planes to be produced as rapidly as American fliers could be trained to operate them. As the American aero squadrons reach the front ready for duty, battle planes are being supplied them under this arrangement. To aid in this foreign manufacture of planes for American fliers, the Signal Corps has shipped to France 11,000 tons of various materials and has sent 7,000 mechanics to release, for French factories making planes for our American fliers, the French workers on motor transports. The Signal Corps then arranged for the making of about 11,500 combat planes in the United States, the term combat plane being here used to embrace all kinds of planes, both offensive and defensive, except training planes.
Let it be said here that when the war began the United States Government had purchased altogether less than 200 airplanes in its entire history, and that of the few airplane factories in this country probably not one was making over five or six a month. It is hardly possible to grasp the magnitude of the task the factories contracting to make the 11,500 combat planes found before them.