Evening star., 1945-08-12
L0,u-C0st Air Truuel Vital to Defense
Thousands of Transports Carrying Civilians Per Mile Would
Guarantee Facilities in National Emergency
BY Lieut. Gen HvodL Georse

What will be the influence of air
transportation on the conduct of future
wars. no one today can predict.
That it will be tremendous, no think
ing persons will deny.
It's potentialities are beyond our COM
prehension. I do not mean to imply
that, within the foreseeable future it
will replace ground or water transpor-
tation. Not by any means. But I do
mean that it will furnish the strategist
and the tactician with an agency that
makes vertical development, on a
grand scale, possible, and, by making
that possible, materially influences the
outcome of war.
No nation can maintain, in time of
peace, as part of its military establish
ment, an air transportation organization
of the magnitude required to support its
armed forces in any future war. The
cost would be prohibitive
Therefore, if our future security
makes necessary the maintenance by
this Nation of an air transportation
agency of reasonable magnitude, and If
it is economically out of the question for
such an establishment to exist as part
of our peacetime armed forces, then
obviously it must be provided by our
commercial flag carriers, by the civil
airlines of this Nation.
Can this be done?
5000 Planes Needed.
Naturally hoforo anu ono ron ancuor
that question, he would want to ask me
a question: How big feet of transport
airplanes do you have in mind?
I am not a Jules Verne, and, I'M
fortunately, the question does not lend
itself to a mathematical solution. But
I, at least am willing to estimate that
there should be available to support any
possible military requirement, some-
thing in the neighborhood of 5000
transport airplanes, of which perhaps
one-tenth, or 500 transport aircraft,
might have to be operated by our armed
forces to serve the outlying military
establishments and provide essential
training of military personnel.
Can this be done?
think that I can give you part of
the answer to that question.
1t most certainly cannot be done If
our only source of customers comes
from that part of our population which
can afford to pay the present rate per
mile for air travel. There are not enough
potential passengers Of that category
To fLa IL, r. =
done if the only customers of the cargo
to be carried are those who can pay the
present carrying charges for box of
orchids from Rio to New York City.
There are not enough beautiful women
who know enough wealthy men who
can afford to pay for all the orchids
which those planes could carry.
Let us see what $500 transport air.
craft actually mean. This Is approx
mately tenfold increase over the total
number of transport aircraft operated
by the commercial airlines of the United
States before the war. On the basis of
transportation capacity, the increase is
even greater, for the airplanes of the
postwar period will have a greater
carrying capacity than those of the
prewar period 1t is obvious, therefore,
that, in order to provide capacity move
ments for these $500 aircraft, there
must be available at least 10 times the
business that the air carriers have been
accustomed to, if those aircraft are to
be self-sustaining.
IT is rerfect1v evident tn mo thof o,,r
air carriers will not be able to increase