PILOT TRAINING MUST MATCH PLANE INCREASE, WARN BOLLAY, DEN HARTOG

Any national air defense program such as that envisioned by President Roosevelt must include provision for rapid and thorough training of huge numbers of pilots as well as tremendous expansion of production capacity, according to a joint interview granted yesterday by Jacob P. Den Hartog, associate professor of Applied Mechanics, and William Bollay, instructor in Applied Mechanics.

The fundamental reason behind Germany's air preponderance over the Allies, and the United States as well, according to Den Hartog and Bollay, is not the quality of the pilot training but the quantity. Unless America expands rapidly both pilot training and aircraft production, "in 15 years we shall be in the same fix England is now," they asserted.

Allies Stand Little Chance

"The Allies were short-sighted in not stopping Nazi militarism at the very first," Den Hartog remarked. "Now, because of their delay they are in a very bad position. For our own best interests, we should have backed the Allies strongly from the start." Believing that the Allies stand little chance now, he thinks that hope for the U. S. lies in "taking a strong stand in the Pacific and South America, to prevent seizures or penetration by Germany or Japan."

As to the best means of expanding our air force in the preparedness program, Bollay believes that we should take a leaf from Germany's book and subsidize commercial aviation on a grand scale preparatory to nationalization if and when war comes, as was done with railroad and shipping industries in the last war. For training civilian pilots he feels that the CAA flying course, now in operation at Harvard and many other colleges, and Colonel Knox's government-approved program are steps in the right direction.

Neglect of Research

Another side of air defense which America has neglected is "basic research," Bollay said. As an example of German superiority here he cited the hellocopter, a type of plane which can land vertically anywhere, proved in a test flight two years ago when one flew about inside Berlin's Sportspalast, Developments such as these, when they have been perfected, will "revolutionize aerial warfare," he declared.

Further necessary measures will be organization of research such as that which has taken place in Germany, both instructors agreed. Different universities, they feel, should be assigned specific problems in order to speed up aeronautical research.