AMERICA’S AIR DEFENCE

Evening Star, Issue 19063, 5 October 1925, Page 5

AMERICA’S AIR DEFENCE

HAWAIIAN FLIGHT FAILURE COMMANDER RODGERS’S .EVIDENCE. Press Association—By Telegraph—CopyrigWClj NEW YORK, October 2. J Commander Rodgers, appearing bo*| fore the Aircraft Inquiry Board at; Washington, absolved the Navy Department from all blame for the failuro' of his Hawaiian flight, which lie attributed to unfavorable winds and lower' 1 petrol mileage than he had estimated.! Ho opposed unconditionally Commander Mitchell’s unified air proposal and the creation of a separate air corps. Commander Rodgers recommended the establishment of a Secretary for National Defence, controlling the army and navy supplies, each division being administered by an under-secretary. Ho declared that the aviation problem could not bo solved without consideration of the entire national defence system. “It has,” he said, “become so complicated that it may die from its own complications unless it is treated by highly-skilled physicians, unprejudiced in favor of a particular branch, the history of which is that of the airplane, .which within the Inst few years has become an integral part of the ship. It is easy to imagine that within a short time wo may find it the most important weapon the navy has to wield. —A. and N.Z. Cable.