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PLAN OUR AIR FORCE AS LARGEST, BEST

Generals Tell Writers We are Also Striving to Make It the World's Safest

NEW-TYPE PLANES NEAR

Ferry Command Will Soon Fly 10 Times Distance Covered by All Air Lines Before War

WASHINGTON, June (?)- The Army Air Force, from the commander, Lieut. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, to the specialists in charge of the various divisions, has given to the Aviation Writers Association a clean-cut picture of a great air force. Lectures and discussions which began yesterday continued through today, but much of what the experts said was off the record.
The air force has combat planes now which have stood up notably under enemy fire, and has nearly completed new types which may revolutionize aerial warfare.
It has a supply service, the Ferrying Comand, which will soon be spanning ten times the number of miles covered by all the world's airlines at the start of the war, and which is rapidly bringing the air force to a state of self-sufficiency independent of land or sea transport.
It has the largest air training program ever undertaken by any country, the scope of which by 1943 will be of "astronomical" dimensions.
It is manned by young men who, in the words of Major Gen. Barton K. Yount, head of the Flying Training Command, are "the cream of the land- if we can't train them, we couldn't train anybody."

Glider Program Being Pushed

While it was caught short by the Nazis in the use of gliders for troop and cargo carrying, it has under way a program that is making up ground at a satisfying pace. 
In its striking arm, bombardment, it is working on the principle that the United States has the world's best bombsight, and that this bombsight should be used for highly selective attacks on the enemy's most strategic centers, rather than in indiscriminate bombing.
It has, in the Boeing B-17, "the best daylight bomber in the world today," in the words of Major Gen. O. P. Echols, chief of the materiel command, and in the Consolidated B-24 (Liberated) another four-motored craft which, while slower, can carry more bombs a greater distance and which "we hope and expect will be almost as good, just as good or better" tan the B-17 according to the gauge of comparison employed.
It is striving for the goal of being not only the world's largest and the world's best air force, but also the world's safest.

Most Planes Tried in Battle

With two exceptions- the Lockheed P-38 and Republic PA-47, both high-altitude fighters- the A. A. F.'s warplanes have been tested in battle. Curtiss P-40's and Bell P-39's have undergone enemy fire over the Southwest Pacific, Burma, Russia and North Africa; Douglas A-20's have proved themselves in Libya; North American B-25's bombed Tokyo without a loss; Martin B-26's raised havoc with the Japanese Fleet off Midway; B-27's now make the enemy keep a respectful distance wherever they appear, and B-24's have swung into action over the Mediterranean.

In addition to Generals Arnold, Yount and Echols, these were the men who helped put together a composite picture of an air force which they declared and unshakable confidence in its ability to hand its tremendous task. 

Major Gen. M.F. Harmon, Chief of the Air Staff; Major Gen. Alexander Surles, Chief of Army Public Relations; Brig. Gen. Harold L. George, head of the Ferrying Comand; Colonel Luke Smith, director of individual training; Colonel D.M. Schlatter, director of ground air support; Colonel S.R. Harris, director of flying safety; Colonel E.P. Sorenson, director of bombardment; Lieut. Col. W.F. McKee, chief of anti-aircraft, and Colonel Wentworth Goss, chief of the fighter division. 

Ferry Work Greatly Expanded

WASHINGTON, JUNE 20 (U.P.) - Brig. Gen. Harold L. George, chief of the Army air ferrying command, said tonight that the United States was not far behind Germany in technical development of gliders. He foresaw tremendous possibilities in their use as transports but emphasized that the use of gliders for long-distance overseas hauls was hardly feasible at this time. 

The ferrying command, organized a year ago to help fly American-made bombers from factories to the British Isles, had expanded rapidly into a world-wide service, flying combat planes, supplies, personnel and mail to American troops stationed abroad and to our allies, he stated. 

General George said that at many stations at home and abroad the command must maintain accommodations for 100 planes each, 
togther with crews, supplies, facilities for repairs, hospitalization and recreation. He related several experiences of the ferrying comand. Once, he said, General Douglas MacArthur needed about 2,000 pounds of small parts to maintain certain planes in reserve. The parts were assembled on the Pacific Coast and in two days and twelve hours a plane landed them in Australia. The plane spent only six hours on the ground en route, for fueling and servicing. The crew ate and slept on board.
Hospital Delivered to Nome
He said that in Nome. Alaska, a hospital was destroyed by fire. In thirt-six hours the ferrying command lai ddown a twenty-four--bed hospital complete.
When the command started delivering supplies to the Middle East an airdrome was needed in the center of Africa 250 miles from ordinary communications. Gneral George said that "a youngster just out of school a few months" was set down by plane in the wilds, with a half-dozen assistants, and told to fix up runways, install quarters and get gasoline 250 miles away. As he departed, the commander of the plane told the young man: "Boy, it's on your shoulders. God bless you."
When the first regular flight was made to the base it was ready, with sleeping quarters, a mess and supplies of gasoline. Ultimately a bill for transportation came from the head sheik of the area. "Apparently he rounded up all the camels in Africa to bring the gasoline," General George said. "And I'd say the bill was reasonable."