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[[newspaper clipping]] Volunteer Flyers Receive Rebuff Called "Winged Mob" and Told Many Civilians Are Not Wanted by Government. References to the possibilities that a "winged mob, knowing nothing of military science, defiant of military authority, out for the fun of it rather than the work to be done and subject to enormous loss," may be sent into the field by the United States instead of a trained aerial force, were the subject of controversy at the Aero Club of America yesterday. It developed that army and navy officials support the view that gave rise to the published criticism. The language above, quoted from an editorial in Flying, official organ of the club, was resented in a letter made public by Shakir S. Jerwan, a member of the club, who has been active informing the Aviation Volunteers' Regiment, headed by Mortimer Delano, a governor of the club. In an explanation last night Henry Woodhouse, managing editor of Flying, declared that he had learned the views of the military and naval authorities at Washington before publishing the editorial. "The paragraph to which Mr. Jerwan objects," he said, "express accurately a phase of the present conditions which is supported by the United States army and navy authorities. If Mr. Jerwan had read the editorial in question he would not have written the letter. The part to which Mr. Jerwan objects is as follows:- " 'The hurried construction of a fleet composed of unfit and hastily whacked up craft, comprising a medley of types; the rushing into the air of untrained men, military and civilian, and the huge mishandling of the resulting forces which must inevitably follow. All of this should already have been guarded against; both branches of the service should have been liberally supported in their efforts to upbuild skeleton aerial forces of generous proportions. Instead, the straitjackets of niggardliness and neglect have been strapped upon our struggling and enthusiastic aerial corps. If it develops that they have no wings or are unable to use them masterfully when they are hastily supplied the fault will be not theirs. It is Congress itself that must bear the blame if instead if a trained aerial force we are compelled to send into the field a winged mob, knowing nothing of military science, defiant of military authority, out for the fun of it rather than for the work to be done and subject to enormous loss.' Find Many Civilians Valueless "It is just such letters as Mr. Jerwan writes that have made the military authorities feel that many of the civilians who offer services would be valueless, as in their extreme conceit they would be troublesome, which, seeing that they have no military training and they could not render any services of value, would make them undesirable nuisances. Flying has always favored the movement to organize a volunteer aeronautical reserve. One of its editors was one of the two men who started it." Mr. Woodhouse was unwilling to use the name of any military official when questioned further on the attitude of the army and navy toward the volunteers. Mr. Jerwan in a letter of protest to Mr. Woodhouse wrote:- "Your remarks would have passed unnoticed were it not that your paper is supposed to be the official organ of the Aero Club of America, and should above all others voice the patriotic sentiments and wise and constructive criticism of its membership. Upholds Volunteers' Services "Were you acquainted with the military conditions in this country, you would understand that it has always been and will always be largely dependent upon its volunteer army at time of war. Therefore, our army and navy are adequately equipped with air craft, when one takes into consideration the patriotically enthusiastic members of our aerial corps, who possess the supreme qualities of exceptional courage, skill and common sence which are the fundamental requisites in military science, and who are ready for the call to war, and can be depended upon to valiantly and faithfully acquit themselves, on the firing line to the credit of themselves, the honor of their corps and the glory of their country". Besides the volunteer regiment, with which Mr. Jerwan is connected, there is an aeronautical reserve, with headquarters at St. Louis, of which Albert Bon Lambert, also a governor of the Aero Club, was the organizer. Mr. Lambert's effort received the approval of the club's board of governors. Mr. Woodhouse and other members of the club also made a journey to Albany last winter in an effort to obtain the passage of a bill creating an aviation corps for the National Guard of the State. Several articles on flying at that time urged that all the States should organize aviation corps as part of their militia, others urged a federal reserve aeronautic body. [[newspaper clipping]] NEW METHOD OF AERO LANDING FAILS IN TEST Inventor and Flier Hope For Final Success - Beachey Predicts Sensations. John Guy Gilpatric with a Sloane baby monoplane tried to land on a wire grid at the Hempstead aviation field yesterday. He steered carefully onto the wires, which were 220 feet long and stretched from ground level to six feet above ground, but there was no way to brake the machine and it slid over the upper end of the wires and dropped to the ground. The lower part of the chassis was smashed. This method of landing was invented for battleships and rough country by James. T. Amiss of Baton Rouge, La., who witnessed the test yesterday. Mr. Amiss and Gilpatric believe that the scheme can eventually be worked out successfully, Gilpatric said he would try it again. Lincoln Beachey, who is to loop the loop in the air at Brighton Beach on May 22, 23 and 24, tried out of his new upside down biplane in Chicago yesterday, according to a message received here by Homer George, his local representative. The trial was satisfactory, the message read, and Beachey says his flights with the new machine will be more sensational than ever on account of the additional power his new Gnome motor will give. Shakir S. Jerwan, a member of the First Aviation Regiment Volunteers, who holds an expert aviator's certificate granted by the Aero Club of America, has written a letter to Henry Woodhouse, editor of Flying, taking exception to an editorial in the May issue. The editorial, which was recently quoted in the THE SUN, says that we may be compelled to send into Mexico a "winged mob" that will be "defiant of military authority," if it is eventually necessary to enlist volunteer fliers. Mr. Jerwan refers to the editorial as a "lot of balderdash," and says the volunteer fliers can be depended upon to "valiantly and faithfully acquit themselves on the firing line." Mr. Woodhouse said yesterday that his editorial expressed accurately the views of the United States army and navy authorities. He did not intend to refer especially to the First Aviation Regiment Volunteers, Mr. Woodhouse says. [[/newspaper clipping, middle]] [[newspaper clipping]] JERWAN TALKS ON AVIATION Predicts, at University Club, Great Future for Aircraft. S. S. Jerwan spoke on "Aviation" at the University Club last night. Through his one and a half years association as director of the Moisant Aviation School, and his personal experiences as a "flier," Mr. Jerwan was enabled to make his talk exceedingly interesting. He recounted many of the trials of beginners and offered many useful hints to the amateur aviator. He divided flying machines into three classes - Over land, over water and a combination of both. He also expanded on the merits and demerits of the monoplane and biplane and explained his preference for the former. A model constructed by a brother of Mr. Jerwan on the Bleriot type was placed on a table and its intricate workings were minutely explained. In predicting a great future for flying machines, the lecturer stated that they would be particularly useful in times of war. According to Mr. Jerwan their possibilities are unlimited, and it is only a question of the time when they will constitute the modern means of warfare. [[/newspaper clipping]] [[newspaper clipping]] SAYS PORTE WILL FLY ACROSS OCEAN Alan R. Hawley Declares He May Fail at First, but Will Succeed Later. AVIATION SEASON OPENS. Major Jarrett, Captain Steele and Other Army Officers Inspect Flying Machines. The Long Island aviation season opened yesterday afternoon at the Hempstead Plains Aviation Field at Garden City. Nothing particularly startling happened, but the meet was nevertheless one of unusual interest in view of the recent arrival in this country of the Sperrys with their aeroplane stabilizer, and the probable affect it will have on the success of Lieutenant Porte's attempt to cross the Atlantic. These two absorbing subjects were discussed from every angle in the interval between flights. The occasion of yesterday's meet was the annual inspection of the Hempstead Plains course, hangars and flying machines by the staff officers of Fort Totten. Colonel Adelbert Cronkhite, U.S.A., who was to have made the inspection, was unable to be present. his place was taken by Captain H. L. Steele and staff together with Major A. R. Jarrett, U.S.A. Medical Reserve Corps, who were the guests of Mortimer Delano, acting colonel in chief of the First Aviation Corps Volunteers. Early in the afternoon Charles R. Niles, whose sensational flying has attracted great attention in New York recently, left the field in his monoplane for Brighton Beach, to give an exhibition flight. After his departure, Captain Steele and staff made an informal inspection of the machines and the field. Mechanical Officer S. S. Jerwan gave the signal for the flying to begin [[illegible font]] after 4:39. Captain-Pilot Harold [[?]], who won the $1400 aeroplane race for the forty-nine miles course, from Governor's Island, on July 4, was the first to ascend. Captain Kantner covered the forty-nine miles course in 43 minutes and 33 seconds. Yesterday he did not try altitude, but for speed. No time was taken, but he had previously circled the field's course of three and one-tenth miles in 92 seconds. His flying yesterday was not quite up to this mark, but, nevertheless, remarkably fast. Captain Kantner again used Maximillian Schmitt's Monocoque machine, which he used on the Fourth. Albert S. Heinrich followed in a 1,500-foot flight in his Heinrich monoplane, a very trim, gray machine, that has a strong resemblance to a bird when in the air. Heinrich flew around the course several times and made a beautiful descent. Others who were on the list of flyers were J. Guy Gilpatric, Captain Sidney F. Beckwith and Captain Frederick P. Schneider, both in military tractor biplanes. Captain S. S. Jerwan and Douglas S. Houghton of the Aviation Volunteer Corps were in command of the flights. Alan R. Hawley, president of the Aero Club of America, was asked his opinion as to the chances for Lieutenant Porte's success in making the transatlantic flight. Mr. Hawley was emphatic in declaring that he though the flight would be accomplished, although the first trial might fail. "Lieutenant Porte will undoubtedly fly across the Atlantic," said Mr. Hawley, who motored to the field from Manhattan with a company of aero enthusiasts. "If he does not make it with his present experimental machine, then he will make it with a second one, which will be built with the improvements suggested by the construction of the present machine, and so on to the third. By that time the development of the machine will be such as to put all those who have doubted the possibility of flight in the 'I told you so' class. "One after another the problems connected with this flight are being solved, and solved with quick success. At the present time, as the experiments are being carried on with the No. 1 boat, the Sperry stabilizer comes to the front to assist the human element. [[\newspaper clipping]]
