Viewing page 110 of 270

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

May 19, 1926.

Memorandum for the Commanding Officer:-

In connection with your letter of May 14, 1926, on the subject of the Air Service Board, the following is submitted in lieu thereof.

1. During the past six years, the experience of the Engineering Division and the results obtained in rapidly providing the Fields and Service Units with the best and latest types of [[strikethrough]] xxxx [[/strikethrough]] airplanes and air equipment, has indicated a definite and ever increasing requirement for a single agency to be charged with the determination of equipment requirements of the Air Service and the coordination [[strikethrough]] xx [[/strikethrough]] of recommendations from all sources affecting major items of raw equipment.
In the past, requirements have in the main been determined in a haphazard manner by boards of officers, without authority to do other than recommend; by individuals not always qualified to pass upon all phases of service requirements; by the various tactical groups where a full knowledge of the employment of the equipment in the Air Service team was not indicated; and by ideas advanced from time to time by the Officer, Chief of Air Services, the Tactical School, or some other Tactical Unit.. Consequently, responsibility for this most important function has never been definitely placed nor have governing tactical and engineering considerations been given proper coordination. The result of this lack of effort at the Division and throughout the Service. In addition, the [[strikethrough]] xxxxxxxxxx [[/strikethrough]] lack of a definite policy has had a disorganizing effect upon the aircraft industry. Upon more than one occasion, contractors have expanded considerable sums in development at the behest of the Service, only to learn that the requirement, upon which the particular development was predicated, no longer existed.

2. To correct this condition, it is recommended that the Air Service Board, established by Army Regulations 95-20, be reorganized and specifically charged with the following functions in addition to those outlined in regulations.

a. To determine [[strikethrough]] xxx [[/strikethrough]] all equipment requirements for the Air Service-as to types and numbers- as a general guide for development.

b. The preparation of alternate development programs.

c. The preparation of a program of tests for the proving of this equipment from the purely engineering tests upon the completed article to the completion of the tactical field tests.