AERO SQUADRON TO BE FORMED IN K. C.
At Least Two Battle Planes, Fully Equipped, Are to Be Purchased.
The Kansas City Aero Club is anxious that every able bodied man with a mechanical or chemical turn of mind report at once to Louis W. Shouse, manager of Convention hall, and apply for membership in the aero squadron now being organized.
Eight aviators and two expert chemical engineers are required immediately and must have their applications in before the last of next week. When the requisite number of eligibles, 110 men, have signed up, the list will be sent to Washington, D.C., by George M. Myers, president of the Aero Club, for the approval of the war department. This will be the first regularly constituted militia aero squadron organized in the United States. The pay of aviation experts in the army is 30 per cent more than that allowed in other departments.
At least two battle planes of a speed and endurance exceeding any of those at present in the regular army will be purchased and presented to the squadron, Mr. Myers said yesterday. They will be armored and equipped with machine guns and facilities for dropping explosives. The squadron will become a part of the signal corps.
"I haven't the slightest doubt but that we can get the planes and all the money we need, once the men have been promised," Mr. Myers declared. "This, we hope, will be the crack military organization of the nation. We want good men and will give preference to former soldiers. If they do not know the work, competent instructors will be found at once to teach them how to fly and take care of the machines."
