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Show Air Corps Cuts Red Tape With Absorption of CAP Student Pilots of Civil Air Patrol Are Vital Link in Nation's Defense Chain; Valued Services Now Recognized. By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. illlll II - 1 W.VXJ Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. As the tempo of American activity on the foreign fronts moves with an accelerated beat, it is pleasing to note that a lot of red tape in Washington Wash-ington is being rolled up and chucked into official wastebaskets. One example ex-ample is what the air corps is trying to do to utilize every ounce of human hu-man and material resource that is available. When war comes, there is always a sharp cross current of human emotions the good old one of self-preservation, self-preservation, and the equally old and much better one, from the standpoint stand-point of the nation, of patriotism. And, for opposite reasons but with the same result, both meet with obstacles. ob-stacles. Many injustices occur in the selection of men for military service. serv-ice. Many ardent and valuable men are stopped from rendering the service serv-ice of which they are capable and which they are anxious to furnish. Red tape is the answer. But red tape is bound to tangle any herculean hercu-lean effort when a peaceful nation turns into a belligerent. Drab Duties The latest step in removing the red tape that was holding back a lot of valuable human power was the absorption of the Civil Air Patrol Pa-trol by the air corps. As this is written, the decision is being made as to which administrative group will take over this body of patriotic fliers who have been furnishing their own planes and their own services, unsung and unhonored. Most of their duties have been drab, and in many cases, stultifying because of their indefinite, quasi-military status. They are not a part of the air corps. Another important step forward is also under way which will bring that group of unselfish young men into active service after months of morale-breaking waiting I refer to the Civilian Pilot trainees, most of whom are now sure of active duty as instructors or flying cadets. They, too, have worked without compensation compensa-tion other than subsistence, and have sacrificed time, earning capacity and opportunity to continue their normal civilian careers. They are now being gradually absorbed into the air corps, too. Few people in the country outside of the families of the members are familiar with either the Civil Air Patrol, the student pilots of the War Training program or even that other group of a million and a half volunteers volun-teers who make up the aircraft warning service. The Civil Air Patrol received some ' publicity for its important part in offshore duty in the campaign which stopped the submarine activities off the eastern coast oj the United States. These men were pilots who owned their own planes, took their special training and received only gasoline and a small fee for depreciation depre-ciation while on active duty. Spotters for 'Tough Guys' They are a vital link in that chain of air and surface guardians who watched our waters from Maine to Florida. They could spot a sub, immediately report it to the nearest bomber or a fast coast guard or naval vessel. Some of the civilian planes were equipped with light bombs but they were not able to make much use of them because their planes were slow and a sub on the surface could spot them as quickly quick-ly as they could spot the sub and crash dive. That can be done in seven or eight minutes and since visibility may extend 15 miles, the sub could hit bottom before the pilot could get over his target. Their chief function was to play bird-dog for the "tough guys" carrying heavier heav-ier depth bombs. Civil Air Patrol did invaluable but less romantic service in carrying vital machine parts between factories. facto-ries. It is now possible that some of these men and women in the interior in-terior of the country who have been making uninteresting overland flights from here to there may get a whiff of sea air, too. In any case, the red tape between them and the air command has been severed. If not technically, at least practically, prac-tically, "they're in the army now." As to the boys in the CPT war training program, who have been warming benches and waiting at nothing per diem, a bill in congress is about to give them pay as active reservists and as soon as there is equipment enough to accommodate all of them, those unqualified for cadet combat training will probably have jobs as instructors or transport pilots soon. Status Unchanged The last named group, the airplane spotters, operate under the Fighter Command, and their functions are such that their status will not be changed, they are a part of the Office Of-fice of Civilian Defense. This group is made up of volunteer volun-teer workers working with armed force experts, in connection with a vast network of telephone and radio connections which lace our entire coastline, east, south and west. They total a million and a half people and the OCD calls this work done by the volunteers, the most arduous ar-duous and technical job trusted to civilians. It consists in spotting, reporting re-porting and recording all activity. Not a plane appears in the skies that is not checked and accounted for. If it can't be identified, blackouts are ordered until it is. Most of the volunteers are women and many more are needed. The job is described as being both exciting ex-citing and tough. The anti-aircraft centers where these people work are guarded by soldiers and no one gets in who doesn't work there or is on official business. Here dozens of girls work on a gigantic table map of the area. They wear telephone headsets and mouthpieces mouth-pieces like a regular telephone operator, op-erator, listening to the information and moving little markers called "pips," representing planes, about the map with long wands. These girls are the end of a series of operations which go like this: The spotter out on top of some building or hilltop sees a plane. The message comes in in semi-code, "Bomber on bi high west 39 Posy." The girl puts the pip on the spot on the map corresponding to the spotter's spot-ter's report. The details of the size and description of plane are recorded record-ed on a marker on the pip. As the plane moves, it is reported by each spotter in succession and pushed along on the map. But until three spotters have made the same report, it is not considered correct because geese look like planes sometimes. Method of Operation After the third report, a teller watching the board from a balcony above, reports it to the operations room, which may be in another city. This point is the nerve center and here again, the planes are plotted. Army men and Civil Aeronautics administration ad-ministration officials who are continuously con-tinuously receiving information as to every plane leaving the ground, check this information with the map below them. Every plane has to be accounted for. If not they, you and I, if we live in that vicinity, know about it the air raid warning is flashed. If the flier has left the ground without clearance or through some mistake hasn't identified himself, him-self, he is likely to see a big bomber after him or he might even have to duck anti-aircraft fire. That is how careful our anti-aircraft defense has to be. ... About Nutrition I I received the following card from a listener in Miami, Fla.: "Those who know will tell you that the introduction of synthetic vitamins vita-mins into white bread is all the bunk or sales talk. Canada and Great Britain will not allow it. The Pure Food Act boys know it too. But just look it up and laugh. 'Suckers' are not born today, they are made by propaganda and high-powered advertising." ad-vertising." I called up the Food and Drug administration ad-ministration ("Pure Food Boys"). Commissioner Campbell said to me: "So far as the nutritionists know, synthetic vitamins are just as effective ef-fective as natural vitamins. This has been shown by extensive experimentation." experimen-tation." - Before the order was given to enrich en-rich white flour with synthetic vitamins, vita-mins, lengthy testimony was taken by leading nutritionists scientific men with no axes to grind. My listener was undoubtedly sincere. sin-cere. He was sincerely undoubting of his misinformation. I wonder who started it? |