MORE AIRCRAFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25175, 16 March 1943, Page 3

MORE AIRCRAFT

SOUTH PACIFIC NEEDS GENERAL KENNEY’S MISSION WASHINGTON, Mar. 14. Experts believe that General MacArthur has sent his air chief, Lieuten-ant-general G. C. Kenney, to Washington to present the case for greater am striking power in the South Pacific theatre of war. The news of the arrival of General Kenney leaked out, in spite of official secrecy, but the Washington correspondent of the New York Times declares it is no secret that General MacArthur wants more planes. This correspondent writes: " General MacArthur wants bombers and fighters in greater numbers than he now is getting them, and he wants them as intensely as the Russians want a second front. General MacArthur denies that the Bismarck Sea victory a fortnight ago is proof of Allied quantitative air superiority.” Mr Edwin James, managing editor of the New York Times, says that General MacArthur may not get all the planes he wants, because Washingtort believes that Europe is the most

important battlefield this year. But he points out the vital need for longrange heqvy bombers to maintain the attacks on Rabaul, which is outside the range of lighter aircraft. “ The Allied bases in the Pacific must be guaranteed,” writes Mr James. “If we risk losing Australia we risk crippling ourselves immensely in the Pacific battle, which is bound to assume major proportions sooner or later. It is not expected that General Kenney will return to the Pacific emptyhanded.”