Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-05-29

| hemisphere defense system.
The new bases are to be manned
by 20 newly created tactical units
of the General Headquarters Air
Force and five older organizations.
The new units have completed
basic training in preparation for
transfer to the new stations and, in
some cases, have sent advance units
ahead to prepare facilities.
All of the bases to be manned
by these new fighting organizations
of the expanding air force are
within the continental United States
and constitute the final line Of
aerial defense. The first line air
defense bases, on the eight sites
leased from Great Britain and in
Alaska, the Canal Zone, Hawaii and
Puerto Rico, also are being con-
structed and manned by air, ground
and naval units.
Foundations for Air Power.
Examination of service maps of
the locations and defense zones of
these hemisphere bases shows that
the areas included within a 1900
mile radius of United States air
bases now in existence or under
construction includes every mile Of
Alaskan and United States coast,
the entire Pacific coast line from
Point Barrow, Alaska, to we'll down
in Peru, and the entire Atlantic
coast from near the mouth of the
Amazon River to the mouth of
Hudson Strait. 1t includes also the
area from the southern tip of
Greenland into Siberia.
The air bases now being built and
manned are the foundations of
American air power-nests of the
eagle. The modern air base is much
more than merely an air field and
its immediate installations. 1t is an
area sometimes many miles in ex-
tent, in which may be located many
airdromes which permit the widest
possible scattering of the air forces
based there.
For the protection of this major
collection of facilities and equip
ment there may be far-fung net
work of aircraft warning posts as
part of a great defense mechanism
Construction Task Great.
Prior to the present emergency,
the law required that all conStruc-
ton for the housing of troops, which
included air base construction,
should be carried on by the Quarter
master Corps. The burden of ex-
panding air power construction has
become too great for the Quarter
master Corps to handle, however,
and, on recommendation of the War
Department, Congress has author
lied a division or labor between the
Quartermaster and Engineer Corps.
Construction of all of the can
comments, airdromeS and other ia
cilities required by the Air Corps has
been transferred to the Engineers,
including the construction work at
new Atlantic bases acquired from
Great Britain, and this work now
involves a s7OO,OO0,0O0 construction
program.
The transfers now in progress in
volve approximately 1000 men. Or
ganized into eight bombardment
groups, eight reconnaissance squad
rons, four headquarters squadrons,
four pursuit groups and an air base
group.
The Air Corps expansion program,
in accordance with which these
are being made, involves the
creation of 256 combat squadrons,
composing "a combat groups and %
wings. In addition, there will be
six groups of transport airplanes for
general use.
Two years ago there were but six
stations occupied primarily by air
force units. The Air Corps now has
approximately so new sites
for stations and, in addition, is
building two large Air Corps supply
and repair depots and two new
training centers, each Of which in
cludes a number of training fields.