Ellsworth American

CARRY FOOD BY AIR

French to Feed Hungry by War Planes.

Plan to Supply Northern Provinces Until Wrecked Railroads Are Restored.

Paris—The French government has decided to install an airplane service to feed inhabitants of the redeemed districts of northern France until railways destroyed by the Germans in their retreat can be restored.

With 200 airplanes at least 200,000 people of the stricken provinces can be fed daily. It is believed this number of planes could carry 100,000 pounds of flour, 10,000 pounds of sugar, 10,000 pounds of butter, 30,000 pounds of vegetables and 10,000 pounds of condensed food.

While this will be the most gigantic scale on which airplanes have been used for feeding a country, yet the system is not entirely new.

During the war it was successfully used by the British in carrying food to their troops in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Macedonia. In November, 1917, during the French offensive against the Chemin des Dames, it was used by the Germans. A detachment of their troops, completely encircled, was kept supplied with food by airplanes that dropped baskets containing bread, kraut, canned meat and other supplies.

For the airplanes that will be necessary for the new service for feeding the north of France, the French government will first of all make use of its own bombing machines. After this it expects to be able to utilize not less than 100 planes turned over by Germany under the terms of armistice. In addition, France hopes that both England and the United States will place at her disposal a number of their bombing machines now lying idle in France.

Vital as the new service will be for feeding the north of France, it also will help solve the problem of the gradual transformation of the military aviation service for peace times.