Evening star., 1940-12-16
$69,70o,o00 Contract
For Allison Airp|ane
Engines Is Awarded
Order Constitutes
Automotive Industry's
I'd Largest for Defense

The automotive industry has re-
ceived its second largest defense or
der with the award of a contract
totaling $69,722 ,625 for liquid-cooled
Engine Co., the War Department
disclosed today. War Department
contracts also were awarded today
for $1,525,518 worth of quartermaster
and ordnance supplies.
The airplane engines are of type
needle for pursuit -interceptor
planes and their production was re-
ported behind the output of planes
for which they are suited. The AL
lison Co., division of General Mo-
tors Corp, is located at Indianapolis,
Ind.
The order is second only to one
received by the Ford Motor Co. for
1922 100000, also for the manufac-
ture of airplane engines, an air
cooled type such as is manufactured
by the Pratt & Whitney Co. The
next largest contract for defense
work was awarded several months
ago to the Packard Motor Co., which
received contract of $62 .446 900
for the manufacture of the British
Rolls Royce engine, the only other
liquid cooled type to be produced
for warcraft IN this country.
Allison Output Growing.
After several days of attempts to
obtain large-scale production of the
Allison engine, the company was
said by Defense Commission
source to be producing from $50
to 300 engines a month William
S. Knudsen, member of the Defense
Commission and former head of the
General Motors Corp, said last
Friday that airplane production
figures for January l, 1941, of 81 900
planes per month have to be scaled
down by 80 per cent to be correct"
and other officials said that an equal
scaling down for airplane engines
might be necessary.
The Allison engine expected to
be produced under the new order
is of 1,090 horsepower. type about
so horsepower more powerful than
the one formerly produced.
Meanwhile. the Army has placed
contracts for more than half of the
current phase Of its ordnance plant
expansion program and the Navy
has selected sites for the balance of
such plants that it intends to build.
S79,000,000 in Week.
D,,r;,oo ,,-ooly a,loJ 1oet
day, the latest for which official
figures are available, the Army let
contracts totaling about S79000,000
for all purposes. The Nays total
was s36,5s9,209
A roundup CT the seven days of
defense spending activities showed
that Army contracts included SIP
100000 for Air Corps material, S24,-
100000 for the Quartermaster Corps,
including some for military housing
and other construction, and $35,-
100000 for ordnance. This brought
the total obligated by the War De-
partment in the current defense
drive to s4696,200,000.
Two contracts announced last
Saturday by the Army for equipping
and operating a small-arms ammu-
milton plant a. St. Louis, Mo.-the
second of that type to be established
-totaled S105 ,887, 100. The previous
week the Army gave the Remington
Arms Co. a S73,00o,000 contract to
construct and equip a small-arms
ammunition plant.
Tableware by Hundred Thousands.
The Army bought tableware and
kitchen utensils last week in guam
titles which would make the average
housewives head swim. For instance
it purchased 100000 glass tumblers
at $40 900, 100000 knives, forks and
spoons at approximately Sl29,000;
100000 cooks aprons at 100000,
10000 one-quart tin dippers at
$4,000 and $1,000 butchers cleavers
at $4,000.
Other purchases included 100000
pairs of light wool socks at $l,200,000
and 7S3 garrison flags at cost of
$4,000
The Nays largest contracts for
the week were three placed with the
United Aircraft Corp, amounting to
$1a,160,746, for additional facilities
for the manufacture of aircraft, air
plane propellers and engines. Many
smaller contracts for a wide variety
of materials and equipment to go
into new fighting ships now under
construction, as we'll as tools and
machinery to make them, also were
announced One company. for in
stance, got a S1,304988 order for
Diesel engines for power boats.