Evening star., 1941-02-25
Stimson Says Army
Has 1900 Planes
Now in Service
But Aid Bill Testimony
Reveals Less Than Half
Are Combat Ships
By the Associated Press,

By the Associated Press.
Secretary of War StimSon has ad-
vised the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee that the strength of the
Army Air Corps is now approximate
ly 1000 planes.
Mr.. StimSon'S testimony before an
executive session OF the Senate
group was made available today by
committee members after the War
Secretary had reviewed the tram
script and deleted several passages,
presumably because of the conf
dental character of the information
involved. The testimony was given
during hearings on the British aid
bill.
The Regular Army Air Corps, Sec
retary StimSon testified, now has
approximately 3,7O0 planes and the
National Guard about 300. Slightly
less than half are tactical planes,
bombers and fighters, he said. The
remainder were classified as trainers.
Ground Defense Good.
In the course of his testimony, Mr.
Stimson reported that Great Britain
considered her ground defense
against aircraft to be in excellent
condition without any help from us"
One British anti aircraft gun, he
indicated, had created very favor
able impression on American tech
nical experts and might be adopted
for use by the United States armed
forces.
He also informed the committee
that virtually all materiel heretofore
transferred to Britain had been 'ob-
soleScent; deteriorated or surplus"
The transactions, he said. had been
advantageous in enabling the United
States Army to order the latest type
equipment.
Discussing United States air
strength. Mr.. Stimson testified that
thus far l 800 of the 5000 Army
planes authorized in 1899 have been
delivered. He said that deliveries
during the last two years have to-
tailed 2,501 planes, of which 958
were combat ships and 1,543 were
training planes.
Changes Were Necessary.
Delivery of combat planes, he said,
had been held up to some extent
because of necessary changes aris-
ing out Of lessons learned last sum-
mer in the European war" He said
deliveries of training planes were
ahead of schedule.
The Secretary told the committee
at one point that this country had
sold no anti-aircraft guns Ito the
British or any other country"
Britain's output of anti-alrcraft
guns is ahead of that in this coun-
try. Mr.. Stimson said, adding that
"they have one gun which they have
produced and which we think we
are going to be very glad TO get"
Questioned about American trans
fers of military equipment to Brit
ain after the British withdrawal
from Dunkirk, Mr.. Stimson said
that 895 of the Army's "old-type'
French 75s had been sold to the
British, along with 865,000 used En-
field rifles, $4,000 "old-style" ma
chine guns. $1,000 "obsolete' air
type machine guns and $4,000 old
Browning automatic rifles.
Paid Full Price for Some.
He said that Britain paid the full
list price for some of the equip
ment and that some of it was pur-
chased for as little as one-fourth
of the original cost The sale, he
added, enabled the United States
Army to place orders for new and
modern munitions"
There have been no transfers Of
any modern weapons of the kind
that the British now want" Mr..
Stimson testified.
Mr.. Stimson said that in some
cases the War Department had
permitted the British to have their
orders filled first but that this had
resulted in giving the Army newer
and better equipment later on.
All we have done he said, lis
IN a few instances hold back and let
them get theirs first"
In some cases, Mr. Stimson de-
clared, the Army is getting a very
much better weapon at very much
faster rate and in much greater
quantities than we would have got
ten if we had not had the British
orders first