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The strength of the Air Force must be arrived at from a consideration of what is necessary to provide air defense and achieve air power.  Consequently, the aviation strength necessary for the auxiliary air needs of the ground forces of the Army and for the Navy cannot be considered as normally available for fulfilling any of the duties or functions of the Air Force, nor as a means to achieve air power.  Such air units exist primarily for assisting these forces and only secondarily do they represent strength in the air for air defense or offense.

The strength of the Army Air Force cannot be limited and can only be determined by comparison with the strongest Air Force of any other nation against which it might be called upon to operate, but in any case its strength has no bearing whatever on the strength of naval aviation.  As the Army under our present system is charged with the building up of this force, it is readily apparent that under present condition of the Army receiving less money yearly for its aviation than the Navy, that the job is almost hopeless.  Whether the Air Force is a hundred times larger than naval aviation or larger even than all the ground forces of the Army combined has no bearing on the principle involved.

Formerly, the only means available for making war were the organized land and sea forces, each of which was capable of independent operations with all their arms so long as these operations were conducted within their own sphere of action.  With the advent of aircraft in war, another weapon was introduced which provided an auxiliary means of furthering and assisting them within their normal zone of action, as at

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