Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-09
War Plans Board Set Tn

Every move in the pre-war years was
/ directed toward that end. Long before Ger
I many touched off the holocaust by invading
Poland, United had paralleled the Arny's
/ M-Day program with its own War Plans
Board. At time when public opinion was
cold toward military air DEVELOPMENT it
I farmed out small educational orders to new
! subcontractors, and it prepared expansion
Z programs designed to be put into effect
without delay. In all of this, it had the whole
. hearted cooperation of the Army and Navy,
! both Of which were handicapped by INSULT
( cient appropriations.
How United Aircraft has been and is dis
charging its responsibility by delivering the
desired quantities of highest quality at the
lowest practicable cost is now a matter of
record. Shipments Of engines and propellers
from its own and icensee plants comprise
very substantial share of all built in the
United States.
Chance Vought Aircraft division is rap
idly increasing production of the Corsair
Naval fighter, now seeing its first action in
the Pacific. Goodyear and Brewster have
been taught to build it. The Skorsky divi-
sion IS developing new experimental types.
Supplies IS Per Cent of Propellers
Prior to the war, Hamilton Standard had
supplied about IS per cent of all propellers
manufactured in this country. From the
declaration Of war down to January l, 1913.
it has continued to produce approximately
rs per cent of all propellers delivered to the
Army and Navy. 1t has brought out new
types and taught other companies to manu-
facture the propellers it had already de-
signed and perfected. It has literally made
it possible for Americas war planes to fly.
Pratt & Whitney engines, the report
states, are being manufactured not only at
East Hartford, but also under license by
Ford Motor Co., Buick and Chevrolet divi-
sions of General Motors Corp, Nash-Kel-
vinator Corp, Continental Motors Corp. and
Jacobs Aircraft Engine Co. They began con-
struction Of their engine plants in 1910,
about the same time United was entering
upon its second expansion program - this
time for the United States Government The
engine licensees, the report states, have
made most excellent showing, but it takes
longer to bring a new plant into production
than to expand an existing one. From Pearl
Harbor to the beginning of 1913, Pratt &
Whitney's shipments have been approx
matoly equal to the aggregate of all its
licensees.
The latter, as expected, have averaged Is
to IS months from delivery of blueprints to
quantity production, or about the same time
it took in 1917-18. Pearl Harbor, however,
found Pratt & Whitney with its designs
fully developed Not only was it able to
swing into full production itself without
delay but it was able to furnish its designs
and know-how to others. To speed their pro-
duction, Pratt & Whitney has passed on to
licensees its philosophy of fexibility in pro-
duction under which it makes changes, die
tated by combat and development expe-
rience, without interfering with production.
! 1t has furnished them with its complete
shop layout, as we'll as details of tools and
fixtures. It's quantity production methods