U.S. PLANE OUTPUT

Southland Times, Issue 24484, 11 July 1941, Page 5

U.S. PLANE OUTPUT

1476 MACHINES IN JUNE MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Rec. 8.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 9. The Office for Production Management announced that 1476 military aeroplanes were delivered in June. The Chief of the Naval Engineering Bureau, Rear-Admiral S. M. Robinson, declared that the ship-building programme was proceeding much faster than the most optimistic naval men had expected. Consequently, it was absolutely essential to speed up the production of materials to keep up the pace. He disclosed that by 1943 the United States would be producing 100 destroyers a year. The battleships North Carolina and Washington, built in naval yards, had cost 52,900,000 and 50,912,000 dollars respectively. The Massachusetts, Indiana and South Dakota, built in private yards, would cost 50,702,000, 61,323,000 and 62,997,000 dollars respectively. “FLYING FORTRESSES”

Twenty American-built giant “Flying Fortresses” have already been flown to Britain. These bombers are made by the famous Boeing Company and are undergoing certain modifications before being used by operational units. At an air base in England on Wednesday a newspaper correspondent was allowed to see them being tested after alterations had been made to make them ready to take their part in the heavy aerial offensive against Germany. These machines have earned the highest praise of the men who fly them. “The fortresses are grand ships absolutely, without any vice,” said one pilot. A test pilot who undertook the first deliveries of the “Flying Fortresses” said that in all his trips he had had no hint of trouble. The pilots were

able to pick out the Irish coast after only seven hours’ flying from the United States. The “Flying Fortress” can carry a bomb load of 80001 b and has a service ceiling of 30,000 feet. American women pilots will be used to fly bombers across the Atlantic to Britain. Miss Pauline Gower, commandant of the women pilots who deliver planes from British factories to Royal Air Force stations, will visit the United States to organize a similar women’s service there. She will collaborate with Miss Jacqueline Cochrane, who recently flew a Hudson bomber to Britain, in the selection of women for the trans-Atlantic ferry service. They will be employed on terns similar to those of the mep pilots.