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THE NECESSITY OF AN AIR DEPARTMENT AND A COMBINED AIR FORCE, PREPARED BY MAJOR BIMER HASLETT UNDER THE DIRECTION OF BRIGADIER GENERAL WM. MITCHELI, CHIEF OF TRAINING & OPERATIONS GROUP, AIR SERVICE UNITED STATES ARMY.

1. TACTICAL NECESSITY

From experience in this war, France and England became convinced that there had been certain changes in war strategy and war tactics that should be recognized, for, just as armies have found the necessity of establishing other branches in addition to infantry, (for instance, field artillery and coast artillery, and, in a greater way, from the armed forces, it was found necessary to establish also sea forces) so the same principle applied to the Air Service. The keen and alert military minds of England and France became convinced that, from the pure standpoint of national strategy, a new force had been born, which, independent of either the land or sea forces, should be capable of operating in its own atmosphere.

For these reasons, England and France established a Department of Aeoronautics, and such a step is now necessary in this country in order that we may meet these countries on an equality.

It is now conceded by such eminent opposing authorities as Marshal Foch and General Ludendorff, that aviation is no longer and adjunct to the Army or to the Navy - that its main mission is no longer observation, with such missions as photographic enemy positions, adjusting fire for our artillery, or finding the locations of our lines - but the main duty and mission of aviation is to fight, to clear the skies of the enemy's planes, and then attack troops on the ground or ships at sea by dropping bombs of inflammable matter, of even flying low and firing machine guns or light canon.

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Establishment [[unsure]] Dept of Air [[unsure]].

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It is obvious that this main duty is neither a naval nor a military mission. It is strictly aerial in every sense of the word, because it is immaterial to the aviation force as such whether the war is on land or on sea, since the method of attack to it is practically the same. It would seem, therefore, that an air force should be established which could be used immediately according to the tactical necessity, which, of course, would depend on whether the war was on land or on sea.

The one great thing that applies to aviation a thousand times more than to any other weapon of defense or offense is that distanced is not measured by miles but by minutes. As the recent fight across the Atlantic showed that our shores can be bombarded on sixteen hours' notice, and the recent transcontinental test by our own Army shows that our continent can be crossed in twenty-four hours, it is certainly imperative that, if this force is to be properly developed it must be under one centralized command so that it can be moved instantaneously upon notice of the emergency, without any reference to loss of time which will be caused by the red tape in getting the Army and Navy Departments together and the centralization of such planes as are distributed among the Treasury Department, the Post Office Department, and several other Departments. When we become involved in an aerial war, we must take no chances that are now necessary by the empty promises of coordination by those who hope to keep the Air Service under their own command and as an auxiliary to their own arm of the service, for the only way to coordinate properly is by having control, and the only way that this can be done is by establishing a Department of Aviation co-equal to the Army and the Navy, and capable of acting with either of them, or independently of either.