Evening star., 1940-02-18

CAN OUE
p Row many military airplanes do we need?
Are the 5000 army planes author
. . lied last year - which will bring our
total of army planes to $500 = enough to
protect US?
And are we getting the right kind Of planes?
Is our air strategy correct?
One more question: why is it that democra-
cies can build great armies, such as the French
army, and great navies. such a. the British
and American navies. and yet trail months
and years behind the dictatorships in their
air forces?
Some wise people argue that the answer to
this last question lies in the inability OF
demouacies to break with the status qho.
Armies and navies are accepted forms Of de-
fense, while the airplane is still an imaginative
weapon that has yet to prove it can win wars
-or at least that was the case up to the time
of the Polish debacle last fall.
When Hitler decided that he wanted
great air armada he called in Coering and
told him to build. in the shortest possible time,
$500 bomIbers and a balanced feet of pursuit
ships. Goermg in turn called in plane manu-
facturers, allied industries, gunmakers. IN
strument people. He didn't bother to ask II
they could make these planes, or how long it
would take, or any other silly questions. he
ordered them to get busy.
When was in Berlin four years ago some
1000 of these planes had just been delivered
= and the whole bunch were second-rate.
The builders had been in too big hurry.
Hitler and Coering were disappointed. but
they simply ordered several thousand better
planes. They didn't have to wrangle with
Congress for the money.
Hitler and Stain and Mussolini - and
even Japan - can do just such things. I'm
fortunately, or fortunately. demoracies do
not work with such brutal efficiency.
Our military people and our Congress alike
want their moneys worth. When we vote
$500, 100000 to more than double our air
strength, we want no reckless waste, as IN
that first batch of Goerings bombers. So we
40 slowly and feel our way. That saves money,
but it wastes time = and time is the essence
not only of preparedness but of war itself.
Well, are we getting our moneys worth:
Are the 1900 new planes authorized - to be
added to the $500 we already have - the
sort of planes that can make us really strong
defensively?
Let's look at our air situation today. On
March l, 1885, General Douglas Macarthur,
one of the greatest soldiers who ever graced
the Office of Chief of Staff. brought all the air
force in continental United States together
and called it the General Headquarters Air
Force the G.H.Q. Air Force. This was to
be highly mobile and concentrated - an
efficient striking force. In war crisis it could
be sent almost overnight to any point IN the
country where there were adequate fields,
and Immediately thrown into action. M
day mobilization day was to be any
day for them. They were set apart as the
minute men of the skies.
Now, that was almost five years ago. On
January of this year, the G.H.Q. Air Force
had somewhat over 400 combat planes scat
tered about at its various bases. That seems
pretty small number when we consider that
Germany is turning out more than 1,5OO
planes month, while England and France
together equal or better that number. Our
own plants are grinding out close to 1000
planes month, and soon this number will be