Evening star., 1941-04-15
WASHINGTON. TUESDAY, APRIL 15 1s

aging about one year to IA months
after placement of the order"
Discussing the procurement o
aircraft, Mr.. Stimson continued:
Although the problem Of aircraft
procurement varies somewhat from
that of ordnance by reason of the
| fact that the department is de
pendent entirely upon private in
| dustry for the manufacture land tC
substantial extent for the design
of aircraft, the aircraft procure.
ment program has also been marked
by the shortness of time within
which large orders were placed after
appropriations became available
Whereas in 1917, after war was de-
clared, it was necessary to send a
mission to Europe to find out what
types Of airplanes were required, the
Air Corps in 1910 had already made
that study and knew what types ii
wanted. Immediately upon re-
ceiving the necessary funds for their
procurement. they were ordered
practically all within one months s
time. Congress made available ap-
proximately s1,500,000 1000 for the
purchase of airplanes in September
of 1910 as against he sum of $685.
900, 900 made available for the pro-
duction of planes in this country In
July of 1917.
Roughly, the airplanes today
cost five times more than they did
in 1877 and, while some allowance
must be made for increased labor
and material costs, these figures
give fairly accurate measure of
the greater complexity of the planes
which we now have to produce a.
compared with those of 1917.
In 1917, it was not until October
nearly seven months after war hao
been declared-that a single one oi
the famous old DH-4s was ordered
and it was not until late in 1918 that
the first planes were delivered ir
France. Those planes, by the way
although standard combat type ir
1917, could not anywhere nearly
equal the performance of our basic
trainer plane today.
Magnitude of Task.
Some further conception of the
magnitude of the task involved ir
modern aircraft manufacture car
also be given by the realization that
one of our newer type -engine
bombers will cost initially to manu-
facture between 100000 and $780,.
900. Even after full production ha,
been attained each one of these
planes will cost approximately
$500 900.
THE exigencies OF actual combat
brought about, as always, necessary
notifications in our designs, bu
these notifications were mainly II
armor and armament. Planes il
production at the time Of the break
through were promptly modified ant
some slow-up of production, o
course, resulted, but the planes or
dered under the new appropriation.
embodied from the outset the nev
designs.
"A notable instance of the far.
sightedness of American design il
the case of the heavy multiple-en-
gine bomber. One type of these
bombers was designed by us as early
as 1884 and it has been in service fol
five years. To this day it is probably
the finest heavy bomber in the air
At the high attitudes at which il
can fly it can outdistance all but the
very fastest pursuit ships and its
speed is so great that even the fast
est modern fighters have difficulty
in overtaking it.
In aircraft procurement as in
ordnance, although we have greatly
speeded up the work involved in
| placing orders with commercial
plants, the general rule still remains
true that it takes American manu-
facturers from one year to one and
one-half years to reach quantity
production"
Difference In Preparations.
Stressing the difference between
today's preparations and those OF
1917, the Secretary of War recalled
that in 1917 the opposing forces
were deadlocked on the western
front for long time, and it wa,
possible to send rapidly inducted
units to France to complete their
training for trench warfare on the
scene.
Today, he said, the department
has been faced with the task OF
training to full completeness force.
armed with new and complex weap-
ons, trained in new and complicated
technique, and to do 1t all within
the United States.
In another part of his statement
Mr.. Stimson said:
I'm 1917 and 1918, with the coun-
try actually at war and with an
Army actively engaged in the field
and with all the enthusiasm and
devotion to the task which a Nation
at war could apply, it would have
taken us about two and one-hali
years from the commencement of
our effort before we could have fully
munitioned eur Army. Consequent
ly, as I have already pointed out
we were obliged to purchase from
our allies nearly all our heavy weap-
ons. Today, assuming existing pri-
critics are not altered, we shall, in
spite of the greater complexity OF
modern weapons, do the job from
eight months to one year faster
than we were doing 1t then"