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many inadequacies, held this position in world aviation through the years. 

The idea of developing our air line transportation as the greatest potential air reserve force for national defense purposes is not new. It has been advocated for years by the air line pilots and by many others who actually think things through. This idea was advanced, took shape, and was adopted and sponsored by our government long before World War II and was proved conclusively during the war. It has been the prime purpose and the foundation on which we have built air line transportation throughout the years. The air line network of this country has been a proving-ground without equal for the development of our airplanes, motors, instruments, modern piloting technique, and the greater part of our aids to air navigation and related appurtenances. The dollars the government has expended in air line transportation has proved a gilt-edged investment in the development of interstate, intrastate, and international overseas air commerce and in national defense. The regrettable part about all this is that other nations were, during the war, given or permitted to copy all these things. The changing world makes us extremely vulnerable today and this is all the more reason we must stay on our toes "aviationwise". 

The air line pilots throughout the years have, at every opportunity, pointed out the indispensable value of the air lines from a national defense point of view. They have pointed frequently to the line pilots as the greatest potential reserve to the military air fighting forces and as the finest corps of highly trained air fighting reservists that this country can possibly produce. It is hard to sell something like this in peace time. In peace time, people are inclined to take the position that the ones doing the selling have a selfish motive -- some selfish interest. The Air line Pilots Association, throughout the years, has urged that air line pilots take out reserve commissions and take an active interest in military and naval aviation. The result of these recommendations served our country well when World War II broke over the world. In the first line of defense were the modern minute men of war time transportation -- the air line pilots. They blazed air routes to the far corners of the world, forging global and over-ocean air networks, establishing logistic avenues of supply and transportation for the movement of combat forces, and the implements of war which were the forerunners of the first real resistance exercised against the Hitler forces of central Europe. Without the help of the Army Air Transport Command (ATC) and the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS), the nucleus and foundation of which were the air line pilots, given so abundantly and effectively to the military air branches and our fighting forces, the war would have taken much longer to win and it would have been far more costly in lives and money. 

The legislation that formed the basis and foundation for the building and our awe-inspiring system of air line transportation, civil aviation, and military and naval air power reserve is the Civil Aero-