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PROPORTION OF VARIOS TYPES OF AIRCRAFT.


     The determination of the proportion of the various types of aircraft required to constitute a well balanced Air Force can, for the present, be based only upon meager data and insufficient experience. However, since pursuit planes must be employed to make possible the operations of the other types, it will be necessary to provide enough of the pursuit type to equal, or, preferably exceed the pursuit strength it is estimated can be brought against us by our most probable enemy.
     Bombardment, attack and observation types can then be provided in the quantities needed to perform the missions it is estimated will be required of these types, or to the extent made possible by available funds. If the funds are insufficient to most all the requirements, the shortage should probably be allowed to fall principally in the attack type for reasons given later. It is believed that commercial planes can be utilised [utilized] for observation more readily than for bombardment. Of course it is much better to have specially designed tactical planes, and full use can always be made of available commercial planes in training pilots.
     It is probable that under present conditions 200 pursuit planes is the minimum number which could be operated against us from Canada during the early days of war. If this is taken as the assumption, 300 pursuit planes, or a fifty percent superiority, may be fixed as our peace time objective in this component of our Air Force required to be maintained in the continental United States. 

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