Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-14
FEW PLANTS BUILD
MILITARY PLANES
Commercial Craft Cannot
Meet Tests Necessary
in War Service.

Commercial airplane factories in the
United States, with few exceptions, are
not equipped to begin immediate pro-
duction of military aircraft In case OF
emergency, Clarence M. Young, Assist
ant Secretary of Commerce for Aero
nsutics, declared in q recent talk to
officers of the Army War College, which
has Just been made public by the De-
partTnent of Commerce.
It would take some time to convert
civil aircraft factories to status OF
military production of any value, he
said. If given a years time, however,
he told the Army experts, and granted
suitable supervision, the domestic air.
plane plants should be able to turn out
from 1000 to 5000 military aircraft
Military Output Small.
ct suppose there are 35 or 40 aircraft
companies in the United States that
can be considered properly organized,
suitably financed and with facilities for
manufacturing aircraft" Mr.. Young
said 1.-THE first half of this year there
were, roughly, 1000 airplanes built.
think $50 OF these were military air.
craft.
"A good guess would place the posi-
Bile production of these companies at
some 1000. It would not be military
aircraft, however. think there are only
8 or 10 companies. or some such num-
Der, that are Government contractors
and are equipped to build military air.
craft to the exclusion OF civilian air
craft"
Mr.. Young was asked whether there
has been any tendency to subsidize
either the direction or operation OF air
craft so as to bring production meth
DDS or the results of production toward
military need. He replied that ne knew
of no such condition. The fact that
company holds Government contract,
he explained, Is no assurance that 1t
will continue to hold such contract.
"The thing is open 10 all manufac-
t,Irers who show suitable qualifications
as bidders he said I'm recent months
Some new companies entirely have dis
appeared in the role of Government
contractors, but there has been no d.
rect aid Of any kind that know Of"
There has been no disposition on the
part of the Government, he pointed
out, to substitute In any way companies
that build planes Of military type.
Coordination Lacking.
Mr.. Young said that, so far as he
knows. there is no Joint board or
agency representing the Department OF
Commerce, War Department or Navy
Department for research locking 70 the
adaptation Of commercial aviation Tor
military use The Assistant Secretaries
at these three departments In charge
Of aeronautics, however, he said, con-
skitute q co-ordinating board to tie
in as closely as possible the common
interests Of the respective departments.
aThen." he said, there is the Ma
tional Advisory Committee Tor Aero
nautics. with its equipment at Lang
ley Field, and the research work being
A. - IA Wr1N
'tie-in' is on the general subject rather
than on any specific item
Transport planes used by the Ameri-
can transport Lines. Mr.. Young de-
clared, are suitable only for training
and transport use IN case Of military
emergency and could not be used for
military maneuvers, as they are not de-
signed or built for the purpose.
Policy Enters Situation.
"The structure" he said. els 80
worked out that the load within 1T Is
spread out entirely for passenger pur-
poses. If you were to set up in one
spot . concentrated load like q bomb
rack, I am sure the structure would
not have bsen designed for It,"
In response TO question as TO
whether II would be worth while for the
Government TO pay commercial COM
panies to construct planes with Q
framework suitable for the carrying Of
bombs, he replied that If such con-
structicn involved the addition Of
weight It would make the planes inef-
ficient for profitable commercial opera
ton.
He expressed the belief that there Is
suficient difference beswen tn struc-
ttral ruuirements for military and
commercial planes TO prevent the two
being interchangeable. He also sug-
gested that II the Government were TO
undertake to design commercial air.
craft with a view TO its conversion into
military aircraft it might run counter
70 international policy.