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as that which confronts the aviation of all countries - namely, the question of personnel.  Aviation is a new arm, and has brought into it men who are entirely different from those of the older arms, such as the army and the navy.  These have been young men for the most part, and have developed the air force to what it is.  It has been necessary, however, to handle the administrative part of the air forces along the lines adopted and used by the armies and navies for decades and even centuries, and, in order to do this, officers of more age have been brought in to handle the administrative details.  These officers, however, have known practically nothing about aviation, but, at the end of the War, as they were the ranking personnel, found themselves in charge of aeronautics.
However, the officers who are enthusiastic about aviation and who are the only ones that can develop it are the actual flying officers.  They are the men who should command the air units. These, moreover, are lost at the rate of from ten to fifteen per cent a year.  They should be assigned commands and given rank in accordance with their ability and length of service in aviation, not in the infantry, cavalry, etc., which does them little good.  If the aviation officers are given rank commensurate with command, it requires quicker promotion than is the case in the infantry, the cav[[alry]] [[next page]]
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