Evening star., 1949-06-08
Army Ground Forces
Held Almost Without
Direct Air Support
TocticoI Air Arm Called
Neglected as Millions Go
Into Strategic Bombers
By Dacid Laurence

y
By David Laurence
With all the billions being spent
for armament and particularly the
hundreds Of millions for the famed
B-36 bomber, the amazing truth
has leaked out that the ground
troops Of the United States are
today without direct air support Of
any consequence. Russia. on the
other hand, HAS many times the
number of planes and a far better
support from the air for her
armies.
The public-and perhaps Con-
gress, TOBIAS apparently failed
to differentiate between o "strate-
gic" air force. which consists pri-
marily of big bombers aimed at
destroying factory installations,
and a tactical" air force. which
works closely with ground troops.
The types of planes used for each
purpose are, of course, not inter-
changeable or usable for both
missions.
The United States today. sur
prising as 1t may seem, has put
all its eggs in the strategic-bomb-
ing basket and has neglected al
most completely the tactical afr
arm. Russia, on the other hand.
has q tactical air force estimated
at $4,000 planes.
Hitler conquered most Of Europe
by using air support with ground
troops. The allied armies recon-
quered Europe the same way.
Only 384 Troop Carriers.
But today America has only 384
troop-carrier planes-enough to
carry the equipment and the men
of only a fraction of one division.
Fighter planes to provide air
support for advancing troops and
to harass the enemy's lines imme-
diately in front Of the advance
have been cut so that on July l
they will number only 1.275 for
the entire United States Army.
Russia has 5000 jet planes for this
purpose.
Light bombers designed to soften
UP enemy ground defenses have
already been reduced from 144 to
SO aircraft, and the whole strength
is to be cut now to So planes.
Meanwhile, the number Of heavy
bombers Is being quadrupled.
Tactical reconnaissance planes
for Army intelligence use consists
only of one group of 81 planes.
The Army has sought as a min
imum goal an air transported task
force of four standard divisions.
The Douglas CHA, for example.
can carry 224 men with their
equipment. and the need is for 156
such transports for each division,
or 624 in all. To move four di-
visions only 200 to 800 miles
would require the full capacity Of
the Berlin "air lift" for six weeks.
Besides the big transports which
carry tanks and large guns, there
is need for other transport planes.
so that in all about $3.50 planes
are required for the four-division
force. This involves using the
lighter planes for shuttle purposes.
Estimates on Needs.
The estimates of needs run from
about 5000 transport planes to
about 5000 of the fighter and
light bomber planes,
Nobody. of course, can appraise
the area In which American forces
might have to operate in the next
war. But one thing Is certain. II
the strategic air bombing doesn't
put the enemy out Of commission
in 80 to so days, then the enemy
will overrun a large territory with
in which 1t will be. difficult to
drop atom bombs without killing
the people of friendly countries.
A prolonged war would find Amer
lea handicapped In ground opera
tions.
The sudden indifference to tao
tical air forces by the Air Force
itself and its concentration on
heavy bombers is under heavy
criticism, though not much OF 1t
is publicly disclosed. What seems
most surprising is that a great
soldier like Gen. Bradley can sit
by and allow tactical air support
to dwindle almost to nothing and
yet not say or do q thing about 1t.
The general has concurred In the
large appropriations for the Air
Force bombers and, by his vote in
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helped to
squelch the Navy's big carrier.
One of the reasons. it is re-
ported, why Secretary johnson
considered for a time abolishing
the Marine Corps identity was
that the Marine Corps did have a
semblance of a tactical air force
that he thought the Army needed
to repair its mistakes Of omission.
= All these weaknesses in the
arms program doubtless will be
studied in the House Armed Serv-
ices Committee investigation
which Is to begin shortly.
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