Evening star., 1943-10-13

the current issue of Army Ordnance: {:
IF you will glance into the near
future you can see very different
picture than the one of today. The
bombers will dwarf our present Fly
ing Fortresses. They will carry half
carload of bombs across the Allan
tic and fly home without stop"
There is, of course, nothing re-
markable in this statement in itself.
For insiders it is an old story. For
many years any number of compe-
tent airmen, basing their statements
on cold engineering data, have said
the same thing Every one connected
with the aviation industry has not
only been aware of the practirability
Of transocean bombardment but
prepared to produce the necessary
aircraft for the purpose.
Source Is Official.
What makes the quotati re-
markable and a kind of milestone of
military progress is its official source.
1t was written by the commanding
general of the Army Air Forces, Gen.
Henry H. Arnold, in an Army publi-
cation. Gen. Arnold is not prone by
temperament to make pronounce
mentS that might shock conserva-
tive ground generals. Besides, he is
still subordinate to ground generals,
despite the four stars on his shoul-
ders. Certainly he would not have
broken the news about trans Allan
tic bombing without the approval of
our uppermoSt war command.
What this means is that air power
ideas are breaking through the tough
resistance Of prejudice and skep-
tlcism in high places. Walls of ST.
lence on the subject are crumbling
under the relentless pressure of
reality. And thus the average Ameri-
can is at last permitted to know
what leading airmen and aviation
industry spokesmen have known, and
said, for long time
Glenn L. Martin. Henry J. Kaiser,
Tom Girdler and many others have
tried to tell the country that trans
ocean flying with heavy loads is an
immediate reality. Mostly. of course,
they have referred to freight loads
rather than bomb loads. But 1t takes
no special training to figure out that
40 tons OF explosives, neatly
packaged for delivery to enemy tar
gets, are no heavier than 40 tons of
merchandise.
poIicr roJJaJ NFu-X>
Why it was thought necessary to
keep the general public 50 long in
ignorance Of certain facts Of aero
nautical life remains mystery.
Those OF us who ventured to crack
the silence were told of quickly and
vehemently as wild zealots who were
doing disservice to the air power
cause" by our unrestrained views.
True, the vehement ones were
usually lay experts with little II anv
knowledge OF aviation beyond the
types OF aircraft actually in service
at the given moment. But it's no
secret that they enjoyed a large
measure Of official support. The
theory seemed to be that too much
popular awareness Of the true no.
tentialities of air power might lead
to popular clamor for revised
strategy making fuller use of the
new force.
The question raised is whether the
Imagination of the American peo-
pie should be fired by disclosing
the full extent of aviation progress,
or restrained by doing out infor-
nation as late as possible. All air.
men take the view that in a democ-
racv such as ours a well-informed
public opinion is essential. It's the
one force that can break through
frozen orthodoxy, in military affairs
no less than in political affairs.
Issue Not Yet Settled.
The fact that we are now allowed
to know officially that trans Atlantic
bombardment Is already technical
reality does not mean that the issue
is settled. The public still has not
been made sufficiently conscious of
the magnitude of chronological ad-
vances in aviation and of what
these mean in terms of new
methods of conducting war. In