The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-12-20

going into this
thing have been terrific. Nearly
every airline has been afraid that
it wouldn't get full credit for what
it had done, or that one of the COM
petitors would get more credit than
it deserved, or that the Army
| Transport Command would get Gre
dit for something that the airlines
had done, or that ATC wouldn't let
the commercial airlineS announce
what they considered major achieve
ments. Trying to keep the ambi-
tious airlines happy about what they
have been doing for the war effort
has been a real problem.
MAY DROP OUT
OF WAR PICTURE
The owl report on commercial
airlines operation in the war comes
out just in time for what may be
a swan song on their effort. In the
beginning, the commercial airlines
did the whole job. Army and Navy
had no personnel, no planes, no eX-
perience for transport job, so the
airlines furnished everything and
did all the work.
Today, on the transport opera
ton. the commercial airlineS are
doing about 80 per cent of the work
BY the end of 1914 the commercial
airlines will be doing only about 10
per cent of the work. If the war
lasts long enough, there may come
a time when the services will be
doing all their own air transport
flying, and the airlines will be back
in private business, exclusively.
For the airlines have taught the
services how to run an airline. The
airlines have run schools to train
transport pilots and navigators and
ground crews and operations per-
sonnet.
When the services first went into
air transport, the commercial air
lines had all the transport planes
1853 of them before Pearl Harbor,
The services bought 176 turning
about half over to military and ma
val crews and assiging the others
to the airlines to operate for the
services on a contract basis, hauling
military cargo.
Today, with hundreds Of new mi
litary transport planes coming off
the production lines, the armed
services are becoming more and
more self-sufficient. Twenty of the
planes taken from the airlines have
now been returned to them for COM
mercial operation, giving the civil
domestic airlines fleet of 202
planes with which to operate
So, gradually, the commercial air
lines, which have been insistently
urging that they be given more
planes so as to permit them to do
their wartime job of carrying more
domestic passengers, mail and eX-
press, are having this demand met.
But it may be that the more civil
flying they do, the less they will be
doing for the Army and Navy. And
before long they may be converted
back to their civilian business en-
tirely.
PROFIT BY
THEIR EXPERIENCE
Their military and naval expe-
rience. however, has unquestionably
been good thing for the CONNER
cial airlines. They have made more
money than they ever dreamed of
making. 1t has put ants in the
seats of their flying pants, and all
the airlineS are now ambitious to
expand their networks all over the
world. They have the flying exper-
fence and the trained personnel to
operate wherever they can get per-
mits and do business.
The need for maintaining Secre-
cy on their operations and protec-
ting military security have been the
reasons why the airlines have not
been permitted to tell more about
the part they have played in the
war. The airlines have chafed I'M
der this military censorship. Pan
American was recently permitted to
say it had made 5000 ocean cros-
sings, and TWA 1000. Now the 9TH
er lines are to be permitted to tell
what they have done too-North-
eastern in flying to Europe over the
northern route, Northwestern to
Alaska, American and Eastern to
South America, United to Australia,
American Export to North Africa.
And all the airlines will be permit
ted to tell something of the work
they have done in contract flying,
running modification centers, re-
pairing and overhauling planes,
training personnel.