Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-04-28

under continuous inspection. and
then go to crowded acceptance
lines. The last job is painting on
six red stars, task Pvt. Harry
Pantano, New York. had the day
we were there when more planes
than the eye could command lined
the landing field.
At one side of the installation
the hammer and sickle banner of
the Soviets flies over the headquar-
tiers of Col. I. v. Obrazov, COM
mander of the Red Army contin-
gent. There is happy fraterniza-
ton among the Americans and the
Russians. They give each other
parties, share their messes and
drink each others beer and vodka
Most of the Russians are veterans
OF the front-line air fighting. Know
ing the rigors of battle for ma
chimes as well as men. they are
very exacting in their inspections
of planes. On our tour of the air
depot. Col. Charles P. Porter of New
Rochelle, N. Y. pointed to an inch
long break in the skin on the nose
of Mitchell bomber.
That will have to be fixed" he
said.
He showed us the check sheet
pasted to the fuselage. The break
already had been noted.
Col. Porter told us that when
the Douglas Co. began operating
the plant last year under Army
supervision the output was only
three planes a day. Now it has
multiplied to so many that the Rus
SLAMS cannot keep pace in taking
the planes away.
III. Ports.
Russia can thank Yankee far
slghtedness and tenacity for the
mass of supplies now reaching the
Red Army. Originally, the Soviets
rejected the idea of the Persian Gulf
route on the grounds that 1900
miles of salt water between United
States ports and the headwaters of
the Persian Gulf was an extrava-
gance of time and an invitation to
rulnous losses to submarines. Thev
preferred to rely on their great port
of Murmansk.
But with British and American
collaboration, development of the
Persian corridor went steadily ahead.
Roads were built. railroads elabo-
rated. harbors dredged and ENLARGED,
and the vast paraphernalia neces-
sary for handling war cargoes was
installed.
Today the headwaters of the Per-
sian Gulf present a noisy panorama
OF docks, winches and cranes with
grunting, sweating Americans and
natives working elbow to elbow I'M
loading Liberty ships. So complete
has been the development OF dock
ing facilities that goods are I'M
loaded faster than they can be taken
away, but officials believe land
transport soon will catch up with
unloading Should transport ca
pacity exceed present port facilities.
new ports will be opened A new
highway which will provide still an
other outlet will open shortly be-
tween the main port and an impor-
tant rail-highway center 80 miles
away.
On the docks, we saw hundreds
OF thousands of tons of munitions.
their cases marked with the tell
tale red paint which Identifies ex-
plosives. We saw tanks with seals
still unbroken coming off ships in
a continuous stream. We saw acres
of cases of timed foods, mostly
meat. which share top priority with
munitions and are fed directly into
the Russian frontlines. We saw
cargoes Of raw steel and brass. We
saw P-39's (Airacobras) and P-4O's
(Warhawks), their motors. wings
and fuselages in separate crates, be-
Ing swung ashore with monotonous
regularity. We saw barbed wire for