FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1940. 'PLANES FROM U.S.A.?

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 176, 26 July 1940, Page 6

FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1940. 'PLANES FROM U.S.A.?

The manufacture of aeroplanes

fake.-i time. We -hall rlo well to be?i

thnt in mind in reading reports of liusfe orders placed by Britain in the

United State-. Not for the first time there is talk of mass production of scores of thousands of 'planes. No doubt they can bo produced, but when ! Karlior this year President IJoo-evelt announced a scheme for building .10,000 'planes a year. The best comment on that, and on similar grandiose schemes, is that Germany, after years of preparation, during which the whole of its aircraft industry was concentrated on war production, is believed never to have produced more than 18,000 'plane* in a year. Moreover, after the 50,000-a-year scheme was announced, the Chief of the Army Air Corps, testifying before a Committee of Congress, said that only about 6000 'planes would be produced in the year ending June 30, 1941. This statement seems in accord with the statements reported to-day, that the present rate of American production is not greater than 600 a month—of which, of course, a considerable proportion will not be sold abroad.

Lord Beaverbrook's announcement that orders have been placed for 36,000 'planes a year in 1941 and 1942 was no doubt made in full awareness of the fact that between orders and deliveries there will bo a wide gap. He would not wish to raise false hopes among the public. His purpose, it may be suggested, was to convince the American Government and the aircraft manufacturers that this is not going to be the short war of Hitler's hopes, but—as Mr. Churchill declared—a war which will continue through 1941 and into 1942. Obviously, if the Americans thought that Germany could win the war quickly, or that Britain might agree to a "negotiated peace," they would not undertake such an expansion of their aircraft industry as was far beyond the needs of the United States. They would fear to be left with colossal plants and no market for their production. If Lord Beaverbrook's orders are successful in inducing the Americans to take a long-term view of the war, and to act accordingly, then the American aircraft industry may ultimately be of decisive importance in the struggle for air ascendancy. Meanwhile, in the short run, Britain must depend mostly upon her own factories, which are as numerous as the American and have been in full prodnction for a long time.