Evening star., 1941-05-06

tuCh pLuHeS. AZ COVltCt goes UH
and British fighter equipment
presumably comes closer to Ger
man in quantity, there ,Dill be
greater emphasis on hedDy, long
range bomberS by tUhich battle
may be carried more frequently
to continental air.
~ the Associated Press.
President Roosevelt made big
boost in heavy bomber production
an urgent objective today.
He instructed Secretary OF War
stimson to get the job done with
all possible speed and gave him
secret production figure as the mark
TO be attained.
Authoritative reports were that
Mr.. Roosevelt had called for 500
long-range, four-motor bombers a
month-an output at least 10 times
greater than at present. Heavy
bombers in such quantities, airmen
said. would be an offensive weapon
which the Axis could not meet.
The President made his call for a
"substantial' production increase
last night in letter to Secretary
Stimson, directing him to take
whatever action is needed" to at
tain the production rate set in an
accompanying private memorandum.
Command of Air Sought.
Command of the air by the
democracies must and can be
achieved" he wrote. Every month
the democracies are gaining in the
relative strength of the air forces.
We must see to it that process is
FASTENED and that the democratic
superiority in the air be made abso-
lutte"
Mr. Roosevelt said that more
heavy bombers we're needed both for
the defense of this country and for
''the vital defense of other demo-
cratic nations
The Presidents instructions re-
called the recent appraisal which
William S. Knudsen made of the
value OF nedNy DOnDerS.
IF we had 1000 of that type now"
the o. P. M. chief said of one 4
motor bomber. I'VE could fix things
up over there"
Mr.. Stimsons roll-out the bomb
ers assignment would probably re-
ouire more than year, airmen said,
before the 500-a-month production
peak could be reached. However, il
was noted that steps TO expand
bomber production capacity already
were we'll under way.
At the moment only two heavy
bomber plants are actually in pro-
ducton. and their combined output
has been reported to be less than 80
planes month.
Two new assembly plants for
heavy bombers. however. already are
under construction at Tulsa, Okla,
and Fort Worth. Tex, which will
turn out so apiece each month be-
ginning some time this fall. The
automobile industry is working on
manufacture of the parts these
plants will assemble.
The War Department is under-
taking to set up three of four more
plants. A contract for one was
given this spring to Glenn L. Martin
Co. at Baltimore. and officials said
that the other plants were provided
for in the $500 100000 available for
additional munitions facilities under
the lease-lend bill and a supple
mental defense appropriation.
Plant Enlargement Discussed.
Plans likewise were in the dis
eussion stage for enlarging an SILL
100000 plant at Ypsilanti, Mich. SO
that it can turn out completed 21-
ton bombers instead of merely air
frames. The plant is being built by
Henry Ford.
Informed sources said that, TO
help speed the program. some plants
manufacturing fighter planes might
be called on to make bomber parts.
There was no apparent intent, how
ever, they reported, to switch
fighter plants from their present
models. The plan. they said. might
be to get each of these plants to
turn out some extra parts that could
be used for the bombers.
In April aircraft manufacturers
delivered 1,427 military planes, an
increase of 211 over the March total.