Evening star., 1939-01-08
By JOHN C. A. WATKINS.

many f1rst-claSs fighting planes as
England and France combined.
This confirmation of reports Of
amazingly large-scale production OF
military aircraft in the Reich comes
from an absolutely reliable source,
whose accuracy and reputation In
the aeronautical world cannot be
questioned. It is not Col. Charles
A. Lindbergh, who was reported
Thursday to have made a similar
report after a recent visit to Ger
many.
The information outlined here
has been laid before the President
and the heads of the War and
Navy Departments Of the United
States Government, and is con-
sidered largely responsible for their
decision that the aerial defenses Of
this country must be improved. =,
When the Munich Conference be-
gan, they were told, Germany was
prepared to back up her demands
with an ultra-modern fleet of $500
military aircraft, fully manned by
trained pilots and maintained by
highly skilled ground crews.
2S Planes Added Daily.
Approximately % fully equipped
airplanes were being added to this
huge feet daily, rolling of produc-
ton lines in dozens of factories
scattered throughout the Reich, each
provided with bomb and gas-proof
shelters and ready on a moments
notice to step up production to
60 planes a day.
In France. a program which was
designed to provide 5000 first-class
combat planes by the spring Of
1898, with requirements coming at
the rate Of 1000 a month, had bog
ged down almost completely.
The republic had only 1000 ships.
of very doubtful quality, to fight on
the threatened aerial invasion, and
replacements were trickling out of
the nationalized factories at the
rate of only one or two a day.
Whole months passed without a
single airplane being produced.
England was little better of. In
stead of the 10000 ships its program
called for in the spring of 1898, only
1000 airplanes were available, and
only about 10 per cent of these were
equal to the best Germany military
aircraft. The other 80 per cent were
definitely inferior in striking power,
although they were far better than
Frances best.
Shadow" Plan Failure.
The governments shadow" plan
had failed completely. The pri-
vately- owned factories were produc-
ing about 80 planes a month, but
the government-owned shadow"
plants had not produced one salts
factory ship when the preliminaries
to Czecho- Slovakia's dismember-
ment began.
The informant, whose sources of
information are the best possible
available to any resident of the
United States, said that the present
situation is the result of the conclu-
sion four and a half years ago of
the British, French and German
governments that war would come
by the spring of 1888.
The three nations began arming
on the land in the sea and in the
air. The result was that:
Germany laid down program and
carried it out almost 100 per cent.
France laid down a similar pro-
gram and executed it reasonably well
except for aircraft, where the gov
ernment failed so miserably that the
situation became and still is a ma
tional scandal.
England'S program was followed
reasonably well, except for aircraft,
where the British failed, but not to
the extent that the French plan
blew up.
Manufacturers Left Free.
Germany left its production en-
tirely in the hands of the then man.
ufacturers, the informant said, sup
plying them with ample additional
working capital and trained en-
ployes from government schools,
equivalent In their scope to Amer
lean technical colleges.
The manufacturers were left free
to develop their plants on regular
industrial lines, except that, for
military expediency, the plants were
scattered in fairly small units, each
with bomb and gas proof cellars
into which the employees could troop
at signal that an invasion was
under way.
The German plants today are
well fooled, and, as was said be-
fore, last spring were producing %
fully equipped airplanes every "a
hours, six days week. Each plant
had reserve tooling and equipment
on hand which permitted the in
dustry to step up production under
pressure to more than twice that
many ships on practically no no.
tice.
Naturalization Fails.
France started her program by
nationalizing the factories, the gov
ernment buying them all and put
ting its own men at the head of
each. The result was that produc-
ton dropped of to a point where
1t became virtually non-existent.
When the time came for the an
ticipated war France found herself
in an appalling condition. Week
after week passed during which not
single airplane was delivered, and
those few on hand were of such poor
quality that, in the opinion of ex-
perienced airmen who had chance
to study their performance, they
couldn't possibly give a good ac-
count of themselves.
The figures for March of last year,
which are known exactly, are typical.
BY country they are:
Germany, 425..
Italy, 375.
England, 80.
France, none known to have been
delivered.
England had adopted a policy
which provided for giving orders to
the private manufacturers, as usual,
but not in such quantities as to