Every few minutes a machine
belonging to an Allied or German squadron crashed to the ground, often
in flames. At the end of the first day's fighting wrecked airplanes and
the mangled bodies of aviators lay strewn all over the battle-field.
All next day, March 24th, the struggle in the air went on with unabated
fury. The Allied air squadrons were now on the offensive and penetrated
far inside the German lines. The German aviators counter-attacked
whenever they could, and more than once succeeded in crossing the French
lines. But at the close of the second day victory rested with the Allied
airmen, and during the next five scarcely a German airplane took the
air.
The sudden termination of the war caused speculation throughout the
world concerning the future of the airplane. When rumor declared that
America's newly-won pre-eminence in aviation would disappear, Captain
Roy N. Francis, of the Division of Military Aeronautics, made this
statement.
America cannot afford to junk the airplane fleet which has cost her so
many millions of dollars. I do not believe that any other nation will do
so. Even if the peace congress should decide on universal disarmament,
there are still any number of uses to which airplanes can be put in time
of peace.
Take the air mail service, for instance.
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