The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1942-01-13
The Lessons of Air Power
New York Tines

New York Times
With each day that passes, the Importance OF
air power is made more terribly vivid to us II
plays the crucial role in the Pacific today whether
we look at the Philippines, at China, at Singapore
or at the Dutch East Indies Our present great all
nferiorty in the Philippines has faced the defend
ers of Luzon with fearful odds" and made possible
the criminal assault by air and capture of the open
city of Manila The numerically superior Chinese
have been forced the defensive for years by lack
of naval forces. lack of mechanical equipment, and
above all by lack Of airpanes to counter the Japan
csc attack
On the other hand, the Dutch, though weak in
many respects have been able to work great dam
age japanese transports and warships by the few
planes they have And at least answer to pres
ent German difficulties in Russia and in Libya is
that after the Germans attacked Russia, they no
longer had the relative air superiority over
their opponents they had previously enjoyed The
coming of winter and possible shortages lack of
good quality in such essential as lubricating oil
seem for the time being to have further reduced
their relative air superiority.
In effort it is obvious that every en-
phasis must be thrown air power and the
auxiliaries to air power. This that must
not only build planes to the limit of capacity,
but solve at the same time the problem of getting
those planes to the points where they are needed.
For the in the Pacific this great
centration ong-range bombers-partcuary, per-
hapS, great concentration on long-range lying
boats capable of going by a series of hops to the
Philippines, the Netherlands Indies, Australia or
Singapore, and not necessarily dependent air
fields at each point 1t means, in future naval
building, an unprecedented emphasis on carriers
and the planes that go with carriers. 1t means the
equipment not only of warships but of merchant
ships with catapult planes. 1t the develop
ment of heicopters other forms of air power
capable of important war uses to which present
types of planes are not adapted.
This, fortunately is a task for which own
country is supremacy well equipped in resources,
trained skills and enterprise among the nations of
the world 1t is task which, moreover, we have
already made an excellent start. In this fact lies
our ultimate assurance of victory. But because of
the initial advantage of the japanese, day or a
week lost now could mean month or year lost in
achieving that ultimate victory: we cannot for a
moment relax energies forget the value of
time.
cause of the growth of air power will confront a
problem that it has never had to confront before.
Because of the airplane, natural geographical bar
riers" to invasion attack rapidly becoming
meaningless. The arpanes that are using today,
devastating as their power seems when compared
with those of the World War will in their turn
doubtless come to seem like toys compared
with the planes of few years from now. If indi-
vdual nations allowed to build great fleets Of
such planes then every hour of the day each neigh
boring country might fear that it could without
notice be struck paralyzng blow. The world could
not live under such condition Some form of inter
national organization to keep the worlds will
become imperative.
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