NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1941, Page 10

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

HELP FROM AMERICA

SUPPLY OF AIRCRAFT

POSITION EXAMINED

The mounting total of American aeroplanes supplied to Britain is clearly indicated by several things which have been published in the last few days, the latest of which is the statement that the United Kingdom is now being supplied with 90 per cent, of American production and that 1000 machines a month may be sent by March. Last Year's Figures. The fact that Britain was receiving 82 per cent, of all machines exported was published in the United States on December 13 last. The figures showed that for the first six months of 1940 the total of machines shipped to the Empire was 386, while in October alone it was 287. Figures of later months .were declared at that time to be kept secret for military reasons. An interesting aspect of the earlier buying by the Empire is that from January to June other Empire countries re* ceived almost as many machines as Britain did. Canada was shipped 72 planes, Australia 87, Irak 15, South Africa 8, and Hong Kong 3; total, 185. Britain's total was 201. In December it was announced that the United States army would receive only 50 combat machines from domestic plants, ahd a slightly larger number in January. This was half the contracted number. Virtually all the Curtiss P-40 fighters, for example, were reported to be going to Britain. Change in Types, . The important thing about American production today- is that it has changed its character. Early in December the American United Press reported that 2500 American aeroplanes were already in use in Britain, but nearly half of these were Harvard trainers. The new machines will be mostly combat types which will add to the hitting power of the Royal Air Force both, at home and on the Continent. Up to the present several types of American planes have been delivered in some numbers, but there has been official silence about their performance. Among those in use by the R.A.F, are the Curtiss P-40, fighter, the Brewster single-engined fighter, the Lockheed Hudson, the Douglas Boston 88-7, the