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Title (Flyers Killed by Stupid Chief's Propaganda Schemes, Col. Mitchell Charges)

FLYERS ARE PAWNS OF INCOMPETENTS, MITCHELL CHARGES
Lays Shenandoah and PN-9 Disasters to "Stupid" Navy Program.
SEES AIRMEN ASHAMED OF UNIFORM THEY WEAR
Declared Lives Are Sacrificed for Propaganda Purposes of Both Services.
By the Associated Press.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex., September 5.-Col. William Mitchell, ace critic of the air forces, today charged the War and Navy Departments with "almost reasonable administration" and "criminal negligence" in a 6,000-word statement which also included other charges involving the air forces of the United States. Col. Mitchell, immediately after releasing the statement to press associations departed by air for a fishing resort, saying he "expected to be arrested by Monday morning" for what he had said. 
Col.Mitchell, whose arguments and views on air matters have gained congressional and national attention is air officer of the 8th Corps. His statement, a scathing denunciation of the practices and systems obtaining in the administration of national defense, was forthcoming as a result of the fatal accident of the dirigible Shenandoah, and of the PN-9 No. 1
"These accidents are the direct result of incompetency, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration by the War and Navy Departments," he asserts.
Col. Mitchell's statement covers 17 typewritten pages, filled with sarcasm and criticism of the conduct of aviation.
"As far as aviation is concerned, the conduct by these departments has been so disgusting in the last few years as to make any self-respecting person ashamed of the clothes he wears,' Col. Mitchell continued "Were it not for the great patriotism of our air officers and their hope for a change i conditions sooner or later, I doubt if a real man would remain with the colors under existing conditions."
(Bold) Denies Wilbur Claim
In reply to the statement by Secretary of the Navy Wilbur that the Hawaiian night proves the value of the Atlantic and Pacific as America's bulwarks against air invasion from a foreign power, Col. Mitchell points out that such an invasion from Asia would be made by way of Alaska, where the water to be crossed is little wide than the English Channel.
The route from Europe, he said, is over the course followed by the round-the-world flyers, to Iceland, Greenland and North America, should a country become powerful enough to undertake the operation.
"What has the wreck of the Shenandoah to do with the possibility or impossibility of an air invasion from overseas?" Mitchell asked. "What business has the Navy over the mountains, anyway. Its mission is not only out in the water, but under water, out of sight and away from land."
Charging that in attempts to keep down the development of aviation into an independent development, handled and directed by aeronautical experts, Mitchell also declared that those in charge of affairs have gone to the utmost length to carry their point. All aviation policies, schemes and systems are controlled and directed by non-flyers, who know practically nothing about it. 
(Bold) Assails Propaganda.
Both departments maintain public propaganda agencies which are supposed to publish to the people truthful facts about national defense, Mitchell declared, charging that the airmen are "bluffed and bull-dozed so that they dare not tell the truth in a majority of cases, knowing that if they do, they will be deprived of their future career and sent to the most out-of-the-way places."
Mitchell reviewed several accidents of the past, declaring that the loss of life in them were due largely to obsolete and improper ships and equipment.
In asking what the Army and Navy has done to show that existing obsolete systems should continue, Mitchell comments on the Pacific fleet maneuvers, the Hawaiian flight and the McMillan Arctic expedition.
Commenting on the heralded "capture" of the Hawaiian Islands by Navy craft despite the operations of the air forces, Mitchell declared that in warfare the fleet would have been bottle up in San Francisco Harbor by mines planned by enemy submarines. If surface vessels got through these, the whole Pacific would be patrolled by fleets of submarines, he said, and any vessel escaping the constant submarine attack by gunfire, under-water torpedoes, gas and high explosives would be met by aircraft hundreds of miles from shore and "sent to the bottom forth with."
(Bold) Says Aircraft Value Shown.
If the maneuvers shows anything conclusively, it was favorable to aircraft, Mitchell declared, pointing out what the 1021 airplane bombardment tests showed what could be done.
"What would the $50,000,000 to $80,000,000 spent on the Pacific maneuvers have meant if applied to the development of airplanes and submarines?" he asked.
Terming the Hawaiian flight planed "good for nothing, big, lumbering boats," he criticized the methods used in providing for the safety of the flight, declaring that destroyers capable of a speed more than two-thirds as fast as the planes should have steamed full speed in the direction of the course, thereby keeping in sight of the flyers all the time. With gasoline supply exhausted, the plane probably was caught in a sudden gust and disappeared beneath the waves, Mitchell said, leaving no trace of the disaster. Even though successful, the flight would have meant nothing from either military or commercial standpoint, he declared.
That the Shenandoah was a modern airship, completely equipped and properly constructed, is contradicted by Mitchell, who declared she was an experimental ship built in this country and was about 50 per cent overweight. Her whole structure was badly stained, he said, when the giant ship broke away from her mooring mast last Spring, tearing out the nose of the big blimp and otherwise damaging it. He also declared that the reduction in the number of valves in the gas bags, made to save the expensive helium gas, made the ship more dangerous to the crew.
(Bold) Says Mission Was Publicity.
Charging that the Shenandoah was on a propaganda mission to offset the publicity of the Arctic and Pacific failures, Mitchell declared that the tour of the big ship meant little to the development of aviation or to the service.
"Her survivors are muzzled by the Navy Department, pending a white wash board," he declared. "The impression allowed to get out shakes the faith of the people in airship transportation and hinders its commercial development."
Commenting on airplanes "borrowed from the Army and entirely inadequate for the work in hand," for use in the MacMIllan Arctic flight, Mitchell declared the expedition was "more propaganda."
"As far as can be learned," he said, "it was a cat-and-dog fight all the way up and back, between MacMIllan, the pilots and the Navy Department. Is there an airman who does not know that with the little jitneys they took up there the pole could not be reached?"
Col. Mitchell's statement follows: "I have been asked from all parts of the country to give my opinion about the reasons for the frightful aeronautical accidents and loss of life, equipment and treasure that have occurred during the last few days. This statement therefore is given out publicly by me after mature deliberation and after a sufficient time has elapsed since the terrible accidents to our naval aircraft, to find out something about what happened.
"My opinion is as follows"
"These accidents are the direct re-guilt of the incompetency, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments. In their attempts to keep down the development of aviation into an independent department, separate from the Army and Navy and handled by aeronautical experts, and to maintain the existing systems, they have gone to the utmost lengths to carry their point. 
"All aviation policies, schemes and systems are dictated by the non-flying officers of the Army or Navy who know practically nothing about it. The Myes of the airmen are being used merely as pawns in their hands.
(Bold) Sees Congress Abused.
"The great Congress of the United States, that makes laws for the organization and use of our air, land and water forces, is treated by these two departments as if it were an organization created for their benefit, to which evidence of any kind, whether true or not, can be given without restraint. Officers and agents sent by the War and Navy Departments to Congress have almost always given incomplete, misleading or false information about aeronautics, which either they knew to be false when given or was the result of such gross ignorance of the question that they should not be allowed to appear before a legislative body.  
"The airmen themselves are bluffed and bull-dozed so that they dare not tell the truth in the majority of cases, knowing full well that if they do they will be deprived of their future carer, sent to the most out-of-the-way places to prevent their telling the truth and deprived of any chance for advancement, unless they subscribe to the dictates of their non-flying bureaucratic superiors. These either distort facts or openly tell falsehoods about aviation to the people and to the Congress.
"Both the War and Navy Departments maintain public propaganda agencies which are supposed to publish truthful facts about our national defense to the American people. Thee departments, remember, are supported by the taxes of the people and were created for the purpose of protecting us from invasion from abroad and from domestic disturbances from within. What has actually happened in these departments is that they have formed a sort of a union to perpetuate their own existence, largely irrespective of the public welfare-and acting, as we might say, about a commercial organization that had entire control of a public necessity-'as as illegal combination in restraint of trade.'
(Bold) Says Policy "Disgusting."
"The conduct of affairs by the two departments, as far as aviation is concerned, has been so disgusting in the last few years as to make any self-respecting person ashamed of the clothes he wears. Were it not for the patriotism of our air officers and their absolute confidence in the institutions of the United States, knowing that sooner or later existing conditions would be changed, I doubt if one of them would remain with the colors-certainly not if he were a real man.
"The story is a long one, beginning practically with the inception of aviation in this country, so I shall mention only a few things in connection with the disgraceful performances which have occurred this Summer.
"Seeing no progress in our efforts, which had been continued for years, to convince or even seriously interest the governing bodies of the War and Navy Department to better out aeronautical condition, we were stirred to further actin by the killing of Lieut. Pierson and Capt. Skeel in the dilapidated racing airplanes during last October's air meet. 
"This was caused by an arrangement between the Navy and Army that the Navy should take the races one year and the Army should take them the next year, thereby equalizing propaganda, not service. Instead of building new airplanes our men were given the old crates to fly at those terrific speeds. Of course, they came to pieces, as they were designed for only one race two years before. This was done in spite of the fact that we had sufficient money to build new ships according to entirely advanced patterned and new safety factors. 
(Bold) Foresees Bill's Passage.
"We in the air fraternity then and there decided to put the issue squarely up to Congress and the people. We received an immediate response from the people and Congress because they saw the right of our proposition, which was to make a single department of national defense with subsecretaries for the land, the air and the water, each to have an equal voice in our national defense system. The general scheme by the way, has been adopted by practically every civilized country in the world. Had this measure reached the floor of the House of Representatives last Winter, it probably would have passed by a large majority. 
"Congress also provided that not less than $50,000 out of monies already appropriated, could be spent for the aerial bombardment of battle ships and Shipping Board vessels while under their own steam and moving, so as to set at rest any doubt of aircraft's ability to destroy and sink any sea craft which floats on the water.
"It was evident then that the American people were awakening to the necessity for a change and that if this change were to be prevented by the War and Navy Departments, that they must act at once. What was the result? Steam was gotten up by the Navy on the one hand to disprove and deprecate the value of airpower and show the value of the surface vessels and battleships, and on the part of the Army to fool the public as to the value of anti-aircraft, cannon and machine guns. Any operations by the Air Service to sink the ships as provided for by the law of the land were stopped. Now what have the Army and Navy done to show that the existing obsolete systems should be maintained?
(Bold) Denounces Propaganda.
"First, the great Pacific naval maneuvers-the main features of these were the assembling of a fleet of some 148 surface vessels in the Pacific, the parade up our Pacific coast and entrance into San Francisco harbor and then the trip to Honolulu. Press representatives and congressional committees galore were handled, fed and entertained, according to the good old Navy's propaganda system. It was heralded that the Navy had taken the Hawaiian Islands. 
"Now, let us see what actually would have happened had there been war. Suppose that we had been at war with a Pacific power and this fleet of surface vessels had been in San Francisco harbor. Instantly the Pacific power's submarines would have planted all entrances to the harbor with mines, would have covered all the approaches with these death-dealing engines. 
"If the surface vessels ever got through these, the whole Pacific Ocean would be districted off into squares and to each of these districts submarines would be assigned for the purpose of tracking the surface ships and attacking them.
"These ships would be under constant attack of gun fire from submarines that can carry any size cannon and use projectiles containing gas, high explosives or armor piercing, they use under water torpedoes which not only hit the side of the ships, but will hit their bottoms, and can produce gas clouds which will completely envelop any fleet. 
"If any vessels of the fleet survived the submarine attacks, crossed the sea and came within hundreds of miles of the hostile coast, they would be sent to the bottom forthwith, by aircraft.
(Bold) Sees Planes Superior.
"If the Pacific maneuver showed anything conclusively, it was that aircraft acting from land bases can destroy any surface fleet coming within its radius of operations. This already had been amply proved by our bombardment tests in 1921.
"As far as Honolulu is concerned it is not a position of decisive influence in the control of the Pacific. Its value consists in being an excellent submarine base to act against hostile surface sea craft and submarines. The control position of the Pacific is our own territory of Alaska and the Peninsula of Kamchatka, opposite. It is reported that from $50,000,000 to $80,000,000 has been spent just for this Pacific parade of our Navy-more properly, the vessels belonging to the United States, because, in fact, it is no Navy in the modern conception of the term. What would this amount, applied to development and improvement of airplanes and submarines, have meant?