The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-06
on plans for another VI
ress behind the scenes.

reSS behind the scenes.
 If this seems surprising, since hundreds Of millions already have been allocated for this purpose, the reason is clear when you ex- anime the gigantic size of the in- dustrial system required to build the 50,000 planes called for by President Roosevelt after the fall Of France.
 Between July 1, 1040 and March l. 1941, just the floor space Of the aviation industry expanded from 172lG.4l0 square feet to 3l,393,- 967. In a few months four huge new bomber assembly plants, at Kansas City, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Omaha. fed with parts by scores of other factories, will add millions of additional square feet.
 But even with all these assem- 1y and parts plants in full oper- ation, the total output of combat planes by the end of 1042 will still be far short Of 50,000.
 On order are A ,835 planes div. idcd as follows: For Canada and the R. A. F.--16000, plus 3,G00 bombers under the so-called Knudsen plan; for the U. s. Army ---l6,575. of which only half will be combat planes; for the Navy --0,6G0, of which about one- fourth will be trainer planes.
 Thus Is will be seen that of the 23,235 planes the Army and Navy are scheduled to receive in the next IS months, only around 14,000 will be actual fighting ships. The rest will be trainers.
 That is why Defense authorities are preparing to erect two, pos- sibly four, more bomber assembly plants, also to expand existing plane and motor factories and to farm out orders for propellers and other parts to scores of plants not now engaged in defense work. BOMBERs TO THE FORE
 War developments have brought bombers, particularly of the long range type carrying great weight, to the fore as the major need of both our Army and the British
 In April our bomber output was about one-siXth of the total num- ber of planes produced-approx- imately 250 out of 1875. This was about 50 more than in March and the number will mount monthly. By September production is scheduled to top 800 q month, and thereafter should step up another 300 per month as the four as- sembly plants swing into full operation.
 This years total U. $. plane output, it k estimated, will be 1S,C0O, or about three times the number in l040. For 1O42, pro. duction is now guessed at 3O,- 900, but experts are confident that figure viii be considerably exceeded under the plant eX- pansiOn plans now being quietly formulated.
 Tn any event, by July of next year we should be turning out a minimum of 2,400 planes a month. Military experts believe Germany's plane capacity is greater than this now. The Nazis are not necessarily producing more than 2,400 planes every month. but they have the plant facilities 10 do so.
 It Is known that the Germans are concentrating on new types; one twin-engined fighter of 2750 horsepower, carrying eight
 guns, including cannon. An- other is Q new model of the Heinkel fighter still another is 6 new fOur-m0tOred ship of great range and weight-carry- ing capacity.
 U. s. air experts are working on 16 different new models, sev- eral of them interceptors to com bat night bombing, a devastating form of attack which none of the belligerents has yet been able to lick.
 HIDDEN COLLEAGUE
 A stocky, gray-haired man, flanked by a group of sightseers, approached Capitol policeman and asked directions to the office of Senator Hiram Johnson Of California.
 Tucked away in an obscure cor- ner on the north side of the ca. pltol where tourists never tread, Johnson's office Is one of the