Not Easy Task to Navigate Aerial
Ships and Flyers Must Be on Alert
and Possess Nerve and Love of Ad
venture.
DALLAS, Tex., April 80.—There is
a reason for every aviation accident.
Sometimes it is an obvious one but
too often only the dead flyer ever
knew just what sent His machine
crashing to the ground.
Up to the middle of April there had
been SO fatalities in the six Texas
aviation camps and in many of the
accidents that caused them no one
knew just what unexpected condition,
just what weakness in man or mate
rial had developed high in the air.
Fort Worth with its three aviation
fields and its preponderance of fliers
training under the British officers in
the Royal Flying corps, had 40 deaths
up to April IT; Houston was next
Crashes may be due to misapplica
tion of rules, unfamiliarity with pecu
liar aerial conditions, faulty material
in the airplane, sudden fright seizing
the aviator, or mere recklessness.
In flying there are no brakes to
apply. The pilot must be alert and
ready for any emergency. A plane
just leaving the field has the advan
tage over a plane about to land in an
impending disaster. I he landing
plane is going much faster than the
one just “revved up.” The pilot just
starting up must be careful not to
misjudge his start and thus be over
taken by a plane that is powerless to
avoid the crash.
Machines passing in the .same di
rection should have an interval of at
least 200 yards to insure safety
against collisions. V\ hen they are
passing over and under, they must
pass at a distance of at least 50 yards
ard those approaching a head-on pass
have at least 150 yards between them.
One of the most common reasons
f, r accidents, as given by instructors,
is disobedience of orders. At a cer
tain height and going at a certain well
defined speed, so many loops or lives
or whatever maneuver is to be adopt
ed, may be made with safety. If the
aviator disregards the laws of math
ematics in which he has been drilled
and undertakes one more loop, the
consequences may prove fatal.
Landing in a cross wind is highly
dangerous. It frequently causes the
plane to turn completely over and
pins the pilot underneath the heavy
engine.
There have been numerous deaths,
flight commanders say, from pilots
losing their nerve. The driver finds
he has lost control of his engine,
makes a frantic effort to right the
plane, fails the first time, lapses into
unconsciousness and the plane falls to
earth at such a terrific speed that the
aviator is dead before he reaches the
During their periods of instruction,
cadets about to fly are given a strict
course to follow in the air. The loca
tion in which same airplanes have
fallen indicated thai the cadets, once
up in the air, disregarded their in
structions and followed their own
sweet will. According to the rules of
the air if each plane has kept its I
course, under normal conditions col
lision with another plane is not pos- |
sihle.
Lieutenant C. S. Chase, of Ellington
Field, Houston, recently described
some of the hazards and duties of an
airman. Immediately following the
first exercises in which the students
develop their sense of balance and
stability, they are drilled in aerial
dynamics.
Lieutenant Chase declared chat "air
packets” are not “pockets” at all, but
are ascending and descending currents
caused by hot and cold waves in the
air. A plane ascends in warm cur
rents and falls in cold currents. For
ests and wet grass and trees make
cool air; level stretches where the sun
shines contain warm air.
An aviator must understand mete
orology, photography, wireless teleg
raphy and be a master of machine
gun fire, Lieutenant Chase added.
When he becomes a flying cadet and
AVIATORS onehuk c.beN
wears a white hat band, he gets his
first ride aloft. After a few trips he
does “solo,” that is, goes up alone, the
most important part of his training.
Next he flies in formation and then
on cross-country trips where he is
compelled to land guided only by
maps and instruments. Then comes
his higher development with machine
gun fire and other special training
which increases his usefulness as one
of the “eyes of the army.”
Officers commanding the Texas
camps, while deploring the fatalities
that have accompanied the training of
Uncle Sam’s flyers, say that, in com
parison with the number of men who
have been trained and become expert,
the total is surprisingly small.
PROBE INTO PRODUC
TION OF AIRCRAFT
(Continued from page 9)
causing de’ays in production as fol
lows:
“I joined the Curtiss Company on
July 16 last. After sizing up the pos
sibilities of the concern and talking to
its staff of experts we went to Wash
ington and consulted with the Aircraft
board as to the number of aeroplanes
we could turn out. We figured con
servatively that we could produce
3,000 pursuit ’planes and 1,000 bomb
ers, from January 1 to July 1, 1918.
The members of the board said that
if the $640,000,000 appropriation for
our air service went through, they
would give us a contract for that num
ber of machines.
“At that time, understand, the ap
propriation had not yet gone through.
Dut, relying on the word of the board,
we hurried back to Buffalo where 1
had taken an option on a piece of land
and closed it. The land and the neces
sary buildings for the work we pro
posed. to do cost about $5,500,000. The
Curtiss Company was not in a position
to swing such a big deal and so I per
sonally went out and borrowed $4,000.
000 from a banking house. We got
busy and began putting our buildings
up within a few days. We had to semi
to Canada for some steel—but we got
it into the country cheaper than wo
could have bought it here.
“Eerection work was begun on July
27, and by September 15 we had 510,
00 square feed of space inclosed. And
up to this time we did not have the
contract. I was staking everything on
tiie word of the aircraft board.
Contract Signed, Then Cancelled.
“The contract was signed on Sep
tember 10. It was changed a little so
that it ordered .‘>,000 pursuit machines
—fighting machines—and 500 heavier
bombers. By November 2 we com
pleted a second building and hail a to
tal of 1.170,000 square feet of space.
We were ready to go ahead with our
job—a $20,000,000 contract.
“But on November 7 last they can
celled the whole contract. This was
because of the first of the many, many
changes in design. The pursuit plane
that we were to build was a copy of
a certain French machine—a very
good fighting plane which is still good
enough to be in use in considerable
numbers by the French. It was a
single-seater.
“But it seems that the kaiser had
sent some two-seaters over Verdun;
(Continued from yesterday)
that is, machines from which the pilot
fired from the front and his compan
ion had a second gun which he could
fire at any plane which was chasing
him. So the aircraft board immedi
ately countermanded our order and
set about to get a two-seater design.
They accepted the Bristol, which is an
English machine.
“We could have turned out the or
iginal plane ordered of us in great
quantities very quickly. We could
have begun production in December
and got into quantity production in
anuary, perhaps at the rate of 500 a
month. We could have turned out any
sort of plane they wanted, even the
Bristol Fighter, at that rate, but we
could not get the definite go ahead.
“My own belief is that it would
have been far better to have made
some of the original type; to have had
1,000 of them over there now protect
ing our lines, rather than to have none
over there. We can’t fight with de
g..s. ,.e have to hght with actual
planes.
Complete Halt.
“Naturally, there was a complete
halt when our contract was cancelled,
but to make up for this cancellation
the board sent us word to go ahead
and build 600 planes of the ‘advanced
type.’ This is a two-seated, dual-con
trol machine which 1 may not describe
in detail. But we showed them, with
this ‘plane' what we could do in the
[way of production. We had a sam
ple finished and in the air within ten
days, and I believe the 600 have all
been turned out and shipped by now.
“Finally we got our order*for the
Bristol Fighters. The contract was
for 2,000.
“From the very beginning we were
never able to get a definite ‘go-ahead’
order ,so we could rush the production
of this machine. We were, it must be
remembered. maintaining immense
overhead expenses. I personally was
morally i-esponsible for a $4,000,000
loan. Not that I cared so much about
that. I’d give every cent I have to be
able to feel that we’d turned .out a
great quantity of machines, that they
were protecting our fighters, and that
I had aided in doing this, as my con
tribution toward winning the war.
“Well, on November 28 the execu
tive committee of the Curtiss com
pany wrote a strong letter to the air-!
craft board and told them that we j
were not responsible for any delays!
there had been, and that on account of
these delays, which were not our fault,
we felt that the government should fi
nance our operations—at least those
extensions which we had made. This
they agreed to do, and in January they
took up our $4,000,000 mortgage.
Hundreds of Changes.
“The changes that the board order
ed in the Bristol Fighter were literal
ly hundreds. Their first great diffi
culty was about a motor. They decid
ed primarily to use the Liberty eight
cylinder (which, as is now known has
been entirely discarded); but they
found that would not iit in the Bristol.
They they decided upon a certain type
of French motor and then upon anoth
er type of French motor of greater
power.
“These changes, of course, caused
important changes in the machine, its
balance, and so on. Then they could
not seem definitely to decide upon
what sort of machine gun to use. They
would order one kind, then another,
then revert to the first again.
“This necessitated alterations in
the machine proper and alterations in
the gun mounts. Then a certain sort
of instrument would be ordered and
abandoned and another type ordered
and abandoned. We never knew where
we were—and here was a force of 11,
000 men literally straining at the
leash, ready to give all their strength
and skill to the job of fast produc
tion.”
“Any idea that reached here from
abroad was seized by those in charge
of our air program,” Mr. Morgan said.
“It was a case of constantly copying
something. In our air program, I
have found, no encouragement is giv
en to American companies and Amer
ican designers to produce something
of their own.
“I do not want to appear to be hold
ing a brief for the Curtiss company
alone. I know that all the others have
had the same experience. But I do
want to stick up for the American
manufacturer in general, and I want
to assert that we Americans can—and
will if we are permitted—turn out as
good aeroplanes as Germany does, and
a great many more than Germany can
turn out. We can produce enough to
blind the kaiser’s armies if the au
thorities will let us go ahead.
No ’Trick to Do It.
“It is no trick to turn out aero
planes by the thousands—and I be
lieve they will win the war—if the
authorities will only decide what they
want. But they hadn’t the last I
heard.”
“What is the remedy for the situa
tion?” Mr. Morgan asked.
“Stop tinkering and let the manu
facturers alone!” he replied. “As
Mr. McNab, of the president’s inves
tigating committee was quoted as say
ing the other day, if the authorities
want to tinker let them get a big tract
of land down in Virginia and tinker
to their heart's content. Meanwhile,
the manufacturers will be producing.”
LLd-GEUE
GETS SACK ST
GEN. BE
Premier Loudly Cheered in House of
Commons When He Arose to Make
Reply to Charges of Late Director
of Military Office.
LONDON, May 10.—Former Pre
mier Asquith moved in the house of
commons yesterday afternoon that a
committee be appointed to investigate
the charges made by General Maurice,
deposed director of the British mili
tary office, against the British min-;
istry, growing out of the condition of,
the British army in France. Asquith j
hotly denied the accusation tha : his j
motion was for the purpose of secur
ing a vote of censure against the gov
ernment.
Premier Lloyd-George appeared in ;
person in the commons and received
an ovation when he arose to speak on
the matter. The premier declared that
himself and associates in the British
ministry had been treated most unfair
ly by General Maurice; he said that
the general should have come to the
cabinet and pointed out where the
ministers had erred, instead of stab
bing them in the back. He declared
that if the motion prevailed, Asquith
would be responsible hereafter for the
conduct of the war, as the members
of the cabinet would pass in their
resignations.
HYDRO-AEROPLANE
ADRIFT ON OCEAN
AN ATLANTIC PORT, May 10.—
Two naval aviators returning to the
coast today report that they passed a
hyro-aeroplane adrift on the ocean,
thirty-five miles off of Miami, Flor
ida! The men on the craft were res
cued by a passing steamer. They had
been drifting about on the ocean in
their crippled machine, which was
leaking, for eighteen hours, without
food or water. Sharks were lurking
near, when the rescue steamer ap
peared.
ASKS REMOVAL
OF HIGH OFFICIAL
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10.—
Samuel Gompers, president of the
American Federation of Labor, has
asked President Wilson for the im
mediate removal of Arthur Yager,'
governor of Porto Rico. Gompers
charges that Yager has handled the
labor problem incompetently on the
island. The president promised to
make an inquiry into the matter, and
if the facts are as stated by Gompers,
Yager will lose his position.
WHITE PASS MAN
JOINS ENGINEERS
VANCOUVER, B. C., May 10.—
Captain P. F. Schardschmidt, former-j
ly superintendent of the White Pass
and Yukon railway system in Alaskp j
and the Yukon territory, is going to
Mesopotamia, with the inland water
ways and dock department of the roy
al engineers of Great Britain. His
valuable experience in river transpor
tation on the Yukon will be employed
to good advantage in his new duties.
WILL REMEMBER
MOTHER’S DAY
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY
IN FRANCE, May 10. — General
Pershing, commander of the American
forces in France, has issued an order
requesting every American soldier
with the expeditionary army, to write
a letter home on Mother’s Day. The
general says that this is a little thing
to do, but it will carry back our af
fection for the patriotic women, whose
love and prayers inspire and cheer ur
on to victory.
In An All-Day Battle in Moscow Yes
terday, Government Forces Gain
Victory and Take Four Hundred
Prisoners.
ZURICH, Switzeralnd, May 10.—In
an all-day battle between anarchists
and Bolsheviki troops in Moscow yes
terday, the victory was gained by the
government troops, who took four
hundred prisoners, and placed them in
the Kremlin castle, formerly occupied
by the czar. The fight occurred over
the failure of the anarchists to sur
render great quantities of munitions
and machins guns. The Bolsheviki
troops stormed the places where the
munitions were stored, and finally
forced the anarchists to surrender.
The newspapers of Moscow estimate
that there are sixty thousand anar
chists living in Moscow' alone.
ALL WOOL IN U. S.
IS COMMANDEERED
(Juneau Empire)
The following telegram has been re
ceived by Fred Parsons, the well
known traveling man, dated Duluth,
Minn., April 6, and addressed to the
Schonacker Brokerage Company:
“Wire Parsons that government or
ders all sales of woolen mills to stop.
You will therefore cease selling every
thing made from woolen mill clothes.
Thos does not apply as yet to hosiery
or sweaters not on your out lists. Are
hopeful that government will allow us
to fill orders already taken.”
The government recently made a
survey of the woolen situation and
found there was 130,000,000 pounds of
wool, all required to dress 2,000,000
soldiers so that the general public
must now depend upon cotton goods.
The United States has requisitioned
all woolen mills and looms and supply
centers.
ALASKA WILL
GET HONOR FLAG
SAN FRANCISCO, May 10.—Alas
ka will be awarded an honor flag with
one blue star, for having oversub
scribed one hundred per cent in the
Third Liberty loan. The flag will be
sent to the governor of the territory
who will be the official custodian of
the emblem of honor.
BANG!
A Frenchman and a German,
In battle planes they met—
They’re hunting for you von Herman,
They’re digging for him yet.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS.
In the Commissioner’s Court for the
Territory of Alaska, Third Division,
Knik Precinct, Before Leopold David,
Commissioner and Probate Judge.
In the Matter of the Estate of Henry
A. Tracy, Deceased.
Notice is hereby given by the under
signed, administrator of tlie estate of
Henry A. Tracy, deceased, to the credit
ors of and all persons having claims
against t He said deceased, to present
them, with the necessary proof and
vouchers, within six months after the
date of this notice, or after the date of
the first publication thereof, to the ad
ministrator, .J. T. Cunningham, tlie said
undersigned, at Room S, General Office
Building, A. E. C., Anchorage Alaska,
which is tlie office of said administra
tor, for said estate and where the said
administrator will transact the business
thereof.
Dated this fifteenth day of April, 1918.
,T. T. CUNNINGHAM,
Administrator of the estate of
404 Henry A. Tracy, deceased.
W. D. WANGLING
HIGHEST PRICE PAID FOR
FURS.
UNANIMOUS
Asquith’s Motion For Appointment
of Special Committee to Probe
Maurice Charges Against Ministry
Is Turned Down.
j LONDON, May 11.—Former Pre
mier Asquith’s motion for the appoint
ment of a special committee to inves
tigate the chrages made against mem
bers of the British ministry was voted
! down in the house of commons yester
j day, not a dissenting vote being cast.
This is taken to indicate that the
i commons is standing solidly behind
j Premier Lloyd-George and his cabinet,
and repudiates the Maurice charges
that the government misinformed the
people with respect to the war situ
ation.
DR. FORBES IS APPOINTED
FOR YUKON DIVISION
(Juneau Empire)
Dr. F. L. Forbes, D. D., who ar
rived in Juneau last night from An
chorage on the Admiral Watson, has
been appointed superintendent of gov
ernment schools for the Yukon divi
sion, with headquarters at Tanana and
has accepted the position. Dr. Forbes
takes charge of his work on June 1,
and after making a short visit to Seat
tle to confer with W. T. Lopp, chief of
the Alaskan educational service, will
return northbound to his station.
Dr. Forbes came north last year as
! superintendent of Sunday School Mis
sions for the Presbyterian Church
i Sunday School board and has been
making an extended trip through the
interim’. He will leave tonight on the
Prince of Wales for a short visit to
Sitka, and on his return will leave for
Seattle. While in Juneau, he is visit
ing with Miss Ethel Forbes, his
daughter, who is employed as one of
the clerks of Food Administrator
Royal A. Gunnison.
Since leaving Juneau last June, Dr.
Forbes has traveled for thousands of
j miles by railroad, steamer, and by dog
I team over the trail. On arriving at
Anchorage to catch the Admiral Wat
| son, Dr. Forbes had just finished a
mush of 825 miles from Ruby, the en
tire trip having been made by dog
I team.
OUR DAILY SPECIAL.
The Closest Men Are the Hardest
to Touch.
Ihl Sitka Hot Springs
These springs are five in
number and one of the old land
marks of Alaska. The Russians
had a hospital there in 1K41.
where they sent patients with
iiseases of the skin and consti
tutional blood disorders.
The temperature averages
145 degrees Fahrenheit at the
Spring. The baths are effica
cious for rheumatism, stomach
and liver troubles, kidney and
bladder diseases, and for consti
tutional disorders.
These springs are in charge
of Dr. F. L. Goddard. The
terms for room, board, and
baths, $2 a day and up. Cabins,
$7.50 per month and up, includ
ing furnishings, except bed
ding. ADDRESS
F. L. GODDARD, M. D.,
SANITARIUM, : ALASKA
NORTH POLE
BAKERY
AND COFFEE HOUSE
4th Ace., Bet. C and D.
Get the Best Price by Shipping Your
Furs to the EASTERN MARKET.
Furs Bought Outright, or Sold on
Consignment.
REMITTANCE BY MONEY ORDER, EXPRESS ORDER OR CHEQUE
Hoerner, Williams & Co.
FUR MERCHANTS KEG
NEW YORK, N. Y. 129 West 29th Street
REFERENCE—BANK OP ANCHORAGE.
FURS