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KEEP AMERICA AHEAD IN THE AIR
BY GENERAL NATHAN F. TWINNING
CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
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EVERY year the National Aircraft show brings to the public a demonstration of aviation progress in America. It is a thrilling and dramatic show-more so each year.
   Customarily, old speed records are broken at each show. For the past several years, jet fighters have dominated this phase of the demonstration. Their rapidly rising speeds indicate the strides our science and industry are making.
   There are many other indications of aviation progress at each show. New transport airplanes, faster and safer, are shown to admiring people. Turboprop and turbojet engines are demonstrated to be coming into their own in the air transport field. Their quiet, high speed performance will make air travel even more enjoyable than it is now. 
   The helicopter has become an item of extreme interest in recent aircraft shows. Increased speed, comfort, and safety have finally gotten the helicopter on the road to wide acceptance use.
   New Air Force aircraft, new commercial planes, private plane, helicopters-all of these are convincing proof of America's progress in the air. We are proud, as we should be.
   In the past we have seen that scientists, engineers and designers of other nations could turn out splendid designs and spectacular prototypes. However, we blithely assured ourselves that no other nation could begin to match us in high quality, high quantity production of modern aircraft and engines.
   As a result of this feeling, we watching demonstrations like the National Aircraft Show with a touch of smugness and complacency. 
   I am thankful that this very human tendency toward smugness and complacency has disappeared. During the past several months, the Soviet Union has shown the world that it too has acquired the ability to produce high quality airplanes in very large numbers.
   This is not to say that Soviet air power now surpasses our own. It does not. This does not mean that the Soviets can outproduce us. They cannot. Nor can anyone say that Soviet aircraft are more advanced than ours; for they are not. 
   However, there is one way that the Soviets are ahead of us. They are ahead in rate of progress. Ten years ago Soviet technology and aviation industry were, compared to ours, in the wilderness. Today they have produced many thousands of high performance jet light bombers. Now they are producing intercontinental jet bombers similar to our own. No one can deny that the Soviet aviation industry has made startling progress.
   It is equally obvious that we must meet this challenge with startling progress of our own. If we should be forced into another war, our unquestioned ability to outproduce any nation will be of small value. The decision in that war would depend on the quality of the weapons that we would have when the war began.
   If we should have to defend ourselves, our fighters must be able to go higher and faster than the enemy bombers. Our bombers must be able to outfly his fighters. Our missiles must be more dependable and accurate than the enemy's. 
   It goes without says that the greater degree of technical superiority our weapons possess, the more remote becomes the possiblity that we will be dragged into another war. The reverse is also true. If we were to lose supoirity of our most powerful arm, our danger would become grave.
   For this reason, the fate or future of America could very well be decided by the work going on right now in our laboratories.
   People in the Air Force Research and Development Command, and in the research organizations of our industries and educational institutions are searching for ways to keep American ahead in the air. The result of their past work are partially reflected in the displays of the 1955 Air Show.
   Marvelous as these displays are, I am not satisfied. None of us can afford to be. The main value we should get from this show is the realizaiotn that the air age is only the beginning, and that the possiblities of the futre are unlimited.
   By making full use of the pride, skill and capabilities in which we excel, our destiny as the greatest nation on earth may yet be realized.
NATIONAL AIRCRAFT SHOW  21 

Transcription Notes:
I put the image after the title, not sure if this is correct or not so please check! :)