Evening star., 1942-01-11

| and larger than any other nation or
group of nations has ever achieved.
These planes are of two kinds-com-
bat and training The combat planes are
of various types, but 1t is no secret that
the British urged US to concentrate on
the heavy, long-range cruising bomber,
while they stuck to the designs of the
interceptor or fighting plane We are
| concentrating on both at the same time
now
On engines we have done magnificent
| job. Both Pratt & Whitney and Curtiss-
Wright are doing production miracle
on engines, way ahead of schedule One
of these factories alone may soon he put
ting out more engines than all the fac
| tories in Germany combined.
Thanks to the splendid foundation
which the United States had in its air.
craft industry, it was possible for the
two American engine makers to supply
Ford and General Motors with the de-
signs and the staff to help the auto in
dustry make standardized airplanes,
while the original aircraft engine makers
were able 70 expand their own production
and prepare for new and improved de-
signs. While the bulk of the engine pro-
duction will come from Pratt e. Whitney
and Curtiss- Wright, the amount Of en-
CINE production to come from the various
auto companies is substantial addition,
and will make the 1912 and 1943 supply
Of engines more than adequate.
Substantial Foundation.
On planes, it is fortunate that the
United States had pioneers like Glenn
Martin and Douglas and Lockheed and
Hudson and Bell and Boeing and Con-
solidated, for they were able to teach
assembly and the making Of essential
parts to other companies like Chrysler,
Goodyear, Bendix, Goodrich and Fire
stone.
Fortunately, too, we have an air-cooled
engine that can do a job. It is reliable
and has. horsepower adequate to equip
the heaviest bombers we can make. 1t is
in quantity production. The liquid-cooled
Allison engine is coming along at fair
rate of production, and for the uses in
tended it, too, will do job.
So America has the engines for the
planes-and more than anybody else can
possibly make in the next 18 months.
Next is the materials for the planes.
We have the aluminium and the other
basic materials. And We are getting the
assembly plants into bigger and bigger
production.
1t is not easy to make bomber that
weighs 10000 pounds, but we are doing
it in quantity. How many we are making
is military secret, but we want at least
1000 a month. We will be producing.
that number late in 1912 or early in
l943 Meantime, on the rising curve OF
bomber production from 100 month to
10 times that number, we can do plenty
of damage to the Axis powers. For no.
body else in the world is producing even
as many as 100 heavy bombers month,
powered as we'll as ours or with the long
range cruising radius of our new flying
fortresses. To put these flying battle
ships into production is doubtless our
most spectacular achievement, and II
Germany's population knew what was
ahead they might begin to worry now
more than they ever did in 1918. In fact,
in few months it wouldn't be surprising
if censorship on production figures were
lifted as a means of weakening German
morale.
Tank Prospects Also Promising.
The story of tanks is equally promising.
We are in quantity production now. The
remarkable feat of the Chrysler Corp. in
building in few months tank arsenal
for the Government-and not a cent Of
profit or managerial fee was charged
will rank in American Industry as one
of the speedy industrial achievements Of
the age Others have done likewise in
supplying Uncle Sam with factories,
especially in the ammunition field: The
tank job is spread over many big indus
trial companies. American Locomotive,
Baldwin and American Car Foundry are
tank field some day as are Martin or
Pratt & Whitney or Curtiss-Wright or
Douglas or Hudson or Lockheed or Boeing
in the airplane category.
BY the end of 1912, and perhaps by
the middle of 1912, we may find that we
have risen from a production of 800 tanks
a month to six or seven times that num-
ber The pattern is set The tools are
almost all ready and the assembly line Is
rolling them out in ever increasing
quantities.
Speaking of tools, this is phase OF
our production that is not readily dram
atized But it is vital. We have done a
fantastic piece of expansion on machine
tools. From few hundred thousand q
month to millions and now to billions of
dollars worth of tools a year, we have
gone in relatively short time. These
are figures absolutely impossible to visu-
alize unless one has the engineering and
machine-tool background to understand
the potential capacity Of weapons that
can be made with such huge supply of
tools.
Machine Tools.
This is mechanical age and we are
fighting q mechanical war. Machine
tools must be precision tools. Machines
do the work Of many men. We have
ample labor to man the tools. We will
have to work the tools seven days a week.
The 168-hour workweek will become
popular. The Timken Roller Bearing
Co. already has been having great sue
cess with the l60-hour week. Others are
following suit.
Overtime pay will be . factor. The