Evening star., 1940-12-04
$65,000,000 Invested
To Regain Leadership
In Plane Research
Sum, However, Believed
Far Below That Spent
By Nations at War
By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.
The United States, formerly left
far behind by the totalitarian ma
tions in aeronautical research ac-
tivities. which are the backbone OF
modern air power, today has in
creased its investment in such re-
search equipment to more than
SOS 100000 in an effort to regain its
lost leadership. Two years ago the
total American Federal investment
In aeronautical research was less
than $10,O0O,000.
This country now Is paying the
penalty for its failure to keep pace
with Europe. Observers have re-
ported that American warplanes
delivered to France before the in
vasion and to England are so out
classed in performance that they are
being used by the British only for
training or are being sent to outly-
ing possessions, where they are less
apt to meet the air fighters spawned
by the war and the frantic days Of
arming which began with the rise
Of Adolph Hitler.
It is only the latest American war
planes, now going into production,
which measure up to the rigid
standards imposed by actual war
fare, according to these observers.
Many of these new airplanes-the
Boeing and Consolidated long
range, four-engined bombers, the
Bell, Curtiss and Lockheed fighters,
with speeds in the neighborhood of
400 miles per hour, and others which
the United States armed forces do
not vet possess are expected to be
available for use by the British in
the spring offensive which has been
forecast by military observers.
Had One Basic Laboratory.
Cp to the outbreak of the Eu-
ropean war the United States pos
sessed only one basic aeronautical
research laboratory, the Langley
Memorial Laboratory of the Ma
tional Advisory Committee for Aero
nautics at Langley Field. Va.
Within the past month. however,
the n. A. G. A. has opened its new
$4,000 900 Ames Aeronautical Lab
oratory at Moffett Field, Sunnyvale,
Calf. and this month it will start
eeronautical engine research labora-
tory adjoining the Cleveland Mu-
nicipal Airport.
The Langley Field plant is in
process of an expansion this year
which has increased the plant in
vestment there from S10,000,0O0 to
S12000,o00.
The Army Air Corps is tremen-
dously increasing the amount of its
equipment at the materiel division,
Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, for ap-
piled military aeronautical research.
The Air Corps today has a S25 ,000.-
900 physical plant at Wright Field,
a large part of which is engaged
in this applied military research
work.
The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics
has relied heavily upon the N. A.
c. A. and has co-operated with the
Air Corps in experimental work at
Wright Field, but also has its own
experimental facilities. which are
scattered and difficult to segregate,
but which may reach a total of
s12 1000 900 to SIS 900 900.
Plant Rising at Philadelphia.
There is now under construction
at Philadelphia a new aeronautical
reseach plant, in which all its scat
tered laboratories there will be con-
centrated. To be completed within
q year, this plant represents an in
vestment of S3,000000.
The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics
however, carries on extensive flight
research work at other points. The
Anacostia Naval Air Station has as
its chief purpose the flight testing
of new naval aircraft, and a major
portion of the investment there
probably should be charged to the
experimental program. The same
Is true at Dahlgren, Va, where dive
and similar tests are carried on
with new aircraft, and to lesser
extent at the Norfolk Naval Air
Station, which carries on rough
water and acceleration tests with
new aircraft.
Allowing only slO,0OO0OO for the
Navy's exerimental investment, the
total plant investment for research
and experimental work in the N. A.
C. A., Army and Navy laboratories
-
Still Far Behind Europe.
Even this total, however, is re-
garded as only a fraction Of. the
total investments for aeronautical
research in England and particular
ly in Germany and Italy.
The work at the N. A. c. A. and
the Army and Navy laboratories is
not overlapping The basic research
at the N. A c. A. establishments
Is fundamental in character and is
applicable to all aircraft and en-
gines. The basic n. A. C. A. find
ings also are utilized by commercial
aviation and are applied to the de-
signing of air transport and other
civil aircraft in company labora-
tories set up by the industry and
10 some extent by aeronautical lab
oratories in colleges and universi-
ties.
The effcts Of the increased aero
nautical research program should
be felt with increasing force far
into the future, both in the produc-
ton of faster, more deadly war
planes for the British effort and
American defense and in the grow