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Show Illumination of 'Death Spot' Corners Will Be Considered Traffic Safety Committee to Check Regulations Affecting Drivers' Licenses Effects of proper illumination on "death-spot" Intersections, stricter enforcement of law provisions pertaining to drivers' licenses li-censes and' legal phases, of automobile owners' and drivers liability were slated among topics of discussion by members of the Salt Lake City traffic commission at its meeting late Tuesday. The meeting, first in three weeks, wss to be held at Msyor John M. Wallace's office. B. C. J. Wheatlake, newest member mem-ber of the commission, Informed Chairman Wsllacs thst other business busi-ness would prevent his attending the meeting. Ths hssardous-lntersectlon discussion, dis-cussion, it was Indicated by Police Sergeant E. J. Steinfeldt. executive secretary of the commission, would desl with a recent survsy of at least four dsngsrous street crossings. Mstters connected with drivers' licenses were raised In a letter received re-ceived by the commission from th state tax commission. Automobils owners' and drivers liability mature were called to th commission's attention In a lettei from the Utah stats bar. Monster Air Armada Is Declared Wasteful - s KtorB Mtt Mm. I t ttm m mmrl m4 mt Hm ana la tM trwt ta NBlasMfsal eWite, ft. 1 prt mm MtkMe.1 MM tm rtM twf KIM, BMtswar mt -T- aniamrle Ma,.." Tcsal.r twttia ttm mriirtf mrntmm my Majar Klfca4 far Mm taU Lttita T4artM twiOaaisvj Um prmmtom mi pra torl.au Artca, By GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT Copyright. 1939, tor Tht Telegram. The airplane haa captured the imagination of the American people, including American congressmen. Many persons appear to think that the primary need of national defense is a great increase in our' military and naval air forces an air force second to none. Rumors that Gsrmsny was sble to put 10,000 combat planes In ths air (highly exaggerated rumors, by the wsy) found instant response in de-1 de-1 mands for an American air force of aimilsr site. But tha fact Is thst when present plans ars completed, we will hsve an air force adequate to our own pe-' pe-' culler necessities. And we do not ' need, and 'ought not to create, a , vast air armada beyond the reaion-; reaion-; able requirements of our strategical ' situation. That way lies wane, ex-' ex-' travagance and inevitalbe re-' re-' frenchmen!. The life of any airplane li- not very long. The useful life of a mili-: mili-: tary plane, considering the ftctor of rapid obsolescence ss slsrc? moves swiftly forward. Is start in-' in-' derd. It is a mistake to pile up great quantities of expensive planes which will become quickly obsolete. The French did that in l30-(933; and today to-day thsir air fores ranks fifth In Europe. Ths proper method of building an air force Is to determine how many planes you will need at the outsst of any war, considering your geographical geo-graphical location with respect to dangerous enemies, then allow a reasonable percentage for reserve, snd prepsrs an annual replacement program to keep the force thus ds-termlned ds-termlned upon up to date in all respects. re-spects. Behind this must be sn Industry 10 orTaniied and geared as to bi able to corns quickly into high--,-c-'d production when and If an Mnerjency arises. And there muel (CoullmiM on P.f. riv.) 1 (Column rtv.l HUGE AIR FLEET 1 HELD U, HEED (Caattaaa Press Pafa Oae) bo pro par raeerva of tralnad par- , sonneL What, than, ara tha Initial ra- 1 qulrement of tha Amarioaa air I force t rirat of all. It muat bo reoog- . nlaad that In thl country, where tha malnatay of national defense ' la tha navy, wa must.hsvs a fiaat ' oomplata la arary particular In- 1 eluding It aviation. Tha naval air 1 forea la part of tha flset, muat ae- company It wharavar It goaa and work with It Cartala typa af planaa fighters, bombers, scout, lorpado plana ara born In aircraft carrlara, and tha numbar raqulrad la, of couraa, limitad by tha nuaibar and capacity of tha carrlara. Other type planaa ara carried In battleahipa (apottlng planaa) and oruiar (arouting plana). Theae ara caupultad Into tha air whan they take off, and In returning muat alight on tha aaa and be holtd aboard by oranaa. Again tha total number la Hnritod by tha number oa ahipa. Altogether, the fleet need about 1000 vlanea of these various types or will whan present building plana ara completed. com-pleted. Patrol Plaara In addition, there ara tha patrol planaa: the big flying boat which alight on and take off from the i water, and which have vary long radii of action. They ara given atrategical mobility by th use of tender, which are really floating repair shops and atorehoueea for their brooda of planaa Considering th need of th new air base In th Caribbean, Alaska and northeastern United Bute, which ara in contemplation, the navy will have soma 6U0 patrol plana. To the figure may be added 200 plane for th marine corn. M0 for tha naval reserve, 600 for training and certain other planaa for th projected tactical school, and for miacellaneoue service la the naval district. Th present limit of 2000 planaa for tha navy Is baaed on these requirements, and I sufficient for praaent need. Different Condition Th air corps of th army must meet an entirely different set of conditions. It must be ready to deal with any audden attack on tha continental United States launched from aircraft carrlara, or from some haatily occupied base In this hemisphere. hemi-sphere. For this purpose It muat hsvs a 1 striking fores superior to the total I number of ahip-borne aircraft pes- saased by any navy which la likely to be our opponent or to deal with such a number of hostile aircraft aa might be hastily aaaembled at a Tha present plana call for a G. H. Q. air fore of about 1000 plane bombardment, pursuit, attack and reconnaissance.' Thl I th air striking force for tha continental United State. It will be dispersed at various bases for training and administration, administra-tion, but can be swiftly concentrated for action by reason of ths speed and flexibility which ara th Inherent In-herent qualities of air power. It 1 considerably superior to th total number of (hip-born plane possessed pos-sessed by an foreign navy, and strong enough to nip in ths bud any attempt to establish an enemy air base anywhere within Its reach. . Praaent Plana Plana For tha outlying possessions, present pres-ent plans call for some 300 planes for Hawaii and 200 for Panama. The army will also need 400 training planaa, 200 cargo and transport planes, and 200 observation planaa for duty with ground troops. This brings us to approximately th total of 2320 planaa fixed by tha Baker board after exhaustive study of ths army's nssds. Possibly the number of observation observa-tion planes may need to be in-- in-- creased somswhat, in view of the requirement of th national guard. And there 1 an argument for giving giv-ing the army parity with tha navy in number of plane, especially if we ara going to assums th likelihood of distant air operations for th de-fens de-fens of South America. But there is no reasonable argument argu-ment for the huge Increases which have been proposed in some quarters quar-ters recently: such as doubling, trebling or quadrupling the board s broad maximum. This, if dons, would certainly react unfavorably on the cause of sans and balanced national defense. Not only as to tha inevitable day of retrenchment, but also by throwing out of balance the parts of what ought to be a delicately deli-cately and carefully coordinated ma-chine. ma-chine. Furthermore, such an enormous increase in our air power would hsvs a dangerous sffect on public opinion, encouraging the supposition, supposi-tion, already all too evident, that our defense la largely a matter of air strength. For their own safsty, it will not do for ths American people to become too sir-minded. Their defense Is on the sea, and ths Initial missions of their army and its air corps ara concerned with assuring freedom of action to their navy. Wrdnesdsyi Do we need a two-ocean two-ocean navy? |