Evening star., 1932-02-28

thousands upon thousands OF them. In
between these canals there is hardly a
square foot of land that isn't cut up into
rice patties or given over to small groups
of huts or covered with burial mounds,
which are to be found by the million.
You can't make a landing on terrain like
that
But there the fortunes that now favor
China end, and even these will disappear
with the coming of Summer, for by the
middle of May the fogs will have lifted,
the Yangtze will be deep enough to per
NIT large men-ofwar and airplane car
riers to ascend the river, and even the
prevailing north wind will be thing of
the past. Of course should China de
clare war on Japan she probably would
utilize the months before the middle Of
May for the planting of mines and depth
bombs in the Yangtze and the overhaul
ing Of her Notifications, and thus delay
the arrival of hostile fleet.
With the end of Spring, however,
Japan'S greatly superior strength in the
air would make itself felt, and this su-
periority is terrific. Roughly speaking
China has total of 800 airplanes, 500
pilots and 1000 men. This includes the
entire air force-army, navy, marine,
national guard, reserves and private
owned. She probably could scare up
few more from other provincial war lords,
rebels and bandits.
The air armada consists of every con-
ceivable type of plane-pursuit, attack,
observation, bombers and amphibians,
Seaplanes, multi and single motored
transports, training ships and hedge
hoppers.
Most of these planes have been built
in foreign countries es-America, France,
Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Hol-
land, Belgium and Japan. The dozen
or SO homemade ships are peculiar look
ing contraptions; they are all made along
curved lines, even to the wings and struts,
for the Chinese still cling firmly to their
ancient belief that the devil can travel
on and inhabit only something that is
built in a straight line.
There are no airplane factories worthy
of the name in all China. In 1918 one
was set up at Nambi Foochow to produce
planes for the Chinese Navy, and manu-
factured a seaplane that they called
Chang Hung, but this factory now has
ceased production. The various military
airdromes have produced few odd-look-
ing jobs from time to time, but they were
of little account and probably are cracked
up or burned by now.
In walking through the stock rooms
of the various military airdromes one is
surprised to find an enormous stock Of
pre-war aircraft, engines and parts of
every conceivable make and description,
from virtually every foreign country. The
foreign devils"-as the Chinese call us
certainly unloaded lot of junk on the
poor Chinese, and probably at high prices.
China's main airdromes are at Shang-
hal, Nanking, Hankow, Canton and Muk-
den. A few of the hangers are modern
concrete structures, but some of the fields
have achieved the luxury of hangers by
the cheap process of tying a bamboo
framework together and covering it with
mats. There are IS or 20 of these mat"
shed hangers at Shanghai, against two
or three of concrete.
The Mikados air force consists of $50
pursuit fighters, 400 observation planes,
SO light bombers and Is heavy bomberS,
with a personnel of 2,100 pilots and 5000
men. In addition, the navy is said to
have an almost equal number of planes,
with more than 5000 officers and enlisted
men. There are also three aircraft car
riers, with fourth nearing completion;
of these China has none.
Many of the japanese planes are man
factured in the country's six large fac
tories. The largest of these, the Mitsu-
bishi Aircraft Co., has its headquarters
at Toxic, with plants at Nagoya and
Shibaura
The NagoYa works alone cover 50 acres