News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES WASHINGTON, D. C. THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER VOL.24 NOVEMBER, 1941 NO. 17 THE COVER The photograph of the aerial gunner on the cover of the October issue was made by Rudy Arnold, the well-known aerial photographer. Through an error, proper credit was not given Mr. Arnold in that issue. The oversight is regretted. CONTENTS THE CHIEF ourLINES
A Resume of Developments ~\ ~ The ~hlef Outlines Our Progress -, \ / / By Maj. Gen. H. H. Arnold _ ~ / C::lllef of the Army Air Forccs ~ l»:A' -- .~. GGri ii-~;;;;;+; i~?: I RB ~EFCRE 1the expansion the Air Corps had roughly We had practically no funds either for develop- 2,000 officers, including reserve officers and ment or additional procurement, and there appeared those detailed from other branches of the army, to be no prospect of flesh and blood for the skeland 20,000 enlisted men, at a time when the German eton of our air streOllth. On the part of some of Luftwaffe was training an air giant of 1,000,000 our leaders there was a sad reluctance to admit officers and men. that the airplane was here to stay. We had one small-output training center, com- But the Commander-in-Chief in the White Bouse posed of Randolph and Kelly Fields at San Antonio, _s not one of these. His recognition of our avi- Texas, which graduated three classes a year-- ation deficiencies and his vision, expressed to us usWIIlly of less than 100 pilots in each class. duriOllthe fall of 1938, were well ahead of public PUrthermore, the blight of too littIe funds over a opinion. In January, 1939, after consultat ions period of too many years had reflected itself in with the President, we outlined to Congress his all our combat airplanes. proposals to raise our Air Corps objective from In pursuit, we had an experimental order for 13 2,320 planes, a dangerously deficient target which Curtiss P-40's, a first class fighter; however, we had never been able to reach, to 5,500 airmost of our squadrons were flying obsolescent planes and an objectiv. of double our existing types whose fire-power of one .30 and one .50 cal- strength in officers and men. iber machine gun each was a pin-prick. That plan appeared to be adequate at that time. In bod>ardment, we had the first models of what But after the invasion of Poland in Septenber, in has since proved to be the most outstanding bomber which it was demonstrated to the world that air in the wor ld-.the B-17. Today, Eng land and other power packed a Sunday punch, it was c lear that the countries are pleading with ever increasing fervor goal for the Air Corps must be revised sharply upfor any of that type they can get, from one up to _rd--at once. 1,000. But we had only 13 of them. COOiress passed supplemental appropriations during the next few months to augment the program. B-18's Lsy To Hit Here is how rapidly ideas and plans can change. The bulk of our bombardment squadrons were In January, 1940, our Air Corps made an estimate equipped with B-18's, a sitting target for even of 1,200 planes required for our needs. That was the slowest of our pursuit planes, and underpowered and slow. They were duds on every count before Congress with a request for 496 planes. pared down by varioUl agencies so that we appeared except training, where they were a life-saver. After arguing for two months, the House of Repre. Frankly, pursuit had been allowed to drift in sentatives reluctantly approved a total of 59. the doldrums, and in bonbardment we had a 100 per The Senate raised that nunber to 157. cent •• urplus of a type we could use only for Appropr iation Increa.ed training and a 99 per cent. shortage of the B-17 type we needed. In Nay, the French Army broke in disorder, and We had about 1,000 combat type airplanes, compared with thousands today---a total built over 4,000 planes. we were given by C0nlre.. about $1,000,000,000 and up in spite of heavy diversion of Alarmed by the German smash This article is a slightly plane. abroad. We had a handful through the Low Countries into a condensed reprint of a speech of planes outside the Continental wingless France whose skies were lIIhichGeneral Arnold made to the United States as against many hundreds in foreign service units to- called a conference of defense lead- bare of fighters, the President United States Military Academy last month. It is carried here day. ers. The figure he dropped on us because it should be of even We had less than 20,000 enlisted wa. a .ashweight.-50,OOO airplanes more interest to The Army Air men as against more than 180,000 a year. The Army had only 2.000 Forces, as a report by hiM on today. We had two or three hundred airplanes and here was the Chief developments in the expansion aviation cadets as against the Executive talking about building to 10,000 now in training. We had program, than it lIIasto the West an annual product ion of 25 times that about 2,000 officers as against a Pointers. It is the most author- number. We believe it can be reached. present strenlth of nearly 11,000. itat ive resume so fsr released. (over)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Pag"! Reorganizat
Page 5 and 6:
THE BIG BABY SOLOED B,19 Test Fligh
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ENLISTED PILOTS BEGIN TRAINING Gulf
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CABBAGE AND X-C DON'T MIX World War
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___ --' ...J '- _ .. ,._-J "' --l..
Page 13 and 14:
SIXTEEN NEW FIELDS "CHRISTENED" A D
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MAXWELL MANEUVERS TEACH FIELD DUTIE
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FLEDGLING SON OF FAtvf.OUS FATHER C
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FRESNO BASE FIRST SINCE CIVIL WAR T
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......J .... _ ...... A rest camp f
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------- ----- -----.. ---- --- -- -
Page 25 and 26:
THE JOB OF AIR CORPS TEST PILOTS Mu
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A ... .&. ... "'.....J.....J -.,.,.
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.All tb1'ee f01'lll8 of converted i
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KEEP ,EM FLYING! Blood and hunger,
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GENERAL ANDREWS COMMANDS THE CARIlm
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The Army Air Forces' first glider,
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GUDERS ••• (Ooncluded) spect
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WE LEARNED... llpee!. So8riDg 18 a0
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'The dive bomber is used to support
Page 44 and 45:
THEN THIS... and we were still ing
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increased it. al t1tude of flight 4
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ALASK.A Lalld 1l.Btd: Hcmgar und e:
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LANDING various materials under con
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8pecialized training for their part
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SOVIET .•. low al ti tude or llhe
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"VIET ." (Ooncluded) Junker-87 bomb
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WE LEAIlJWED... (Concluded) nights.
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FACILITIES. •• (Concluded) twee
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Whenever a birth occurs. all physic
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SUPPORT ••• (Concluded) deliv
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C friend? ) ( foe?) < •
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Photo Interpretation MATA HARI WITH
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, .! J, I t .':';'1 ~ ~ It':::. , .
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Our New Bases AsslgDlDent to Newfou
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THE JIR FORCES NEWS LETTER .. of th
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OVERSTUFFEDAERIAL WATCHMEN Barrage
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Warriors By Oliver Townsend from th
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RELATIVE RANK IN WORLD'S AIR FORCES
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could outdo Rube Goldberg. Be has t
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THE dIR FORCES Nr:WS U:TTr:R and ap
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Wanted: More Pilots RESERVE OFFICER
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THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER would be
Page 92 and 93: THE AIR FORCE8 NEW'S LETTER The que
Page 94 and 95: THE ,1IR FORCES NEIPS LETTER believ
Page 96 and 97: THE .IlIR FORCES NEWS LETTER The of
Page 98 and 99: THE AIR FORCES NEil'S LETTER CARlAD
Page 100 and 101: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER fer the
Page 102: SUPPLY DIVISION KNOW YOUR AIR~RAFT
Page 105 and 106: Loulsl ••• Maneuvers End Supp
Page 107 and 108: IN THE FIELD WITH THE ARMY AIR FORC
Page 109 and 110: ---0 - - - 0- ---- THE WINGED By Ol
Page 111 and 112: Air OperadoDs In Alaska By Lieut. J
Page 113 and 114: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER is about
Page 115 and 116: furways .1 rarnc \.JUIIUUI AERIAL T
Page 117 and 118: the danger from aircraft falling or
Page 119 and 120: .. An Equipment Review GERMAN AIRCR
Page 121 and 122: Graham CA-ackersfor Grounded Flyers
Page 123 and 124: A Veteran Retires FRANK P. LAHM APP
Page 125 and 126: New Marine Air Units MORE FEATHERS
Page 127 and 128: Wholesale Mess nail Feeding Them by
Page 129 and 130: The Bristol LIght Bom.ber Night Fig
Page 131 and 132: THE MONTH IN REVIEW hy FALK HARMEL
Page 133 and 134: Your Lite insurance SELF PROTECTION
Page 135 and 136: en eng ing the application. It is h
Page 137 and 138: LAHM .•• (Continued From Page 1
Page 140 and 141: "I I., K.NOW YOUR AIR~RAFT
Page 144: THE .tIIR FORCES NEWS LETTER . ;:..
Page 147: THF ATR FORCES NEWS LETTER ,I I whe
Page 150 and 151: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER chanical
Page 152 and 153: C I ~ . fjQ III ....
Page 154 and 155: he reports direction and distance f
Page 156 and 157: DEFENSE 0 00 (Continued From P.~. 1
Page 158 and 159: e shown repeatedly if necessar,. Fi
Page 160 and 161: THE AIR FORCES NliWS LETTER has in
Page 162 and 163: Air Forees Seareh Oeean Flight Ende
Page 164 and 165: "E" Awards at Langley Engineering M
Page 166 and 167: accessory emergency unit (emergency
Page 168 and 169: NOVEMBER F941 Further Expansion Und
Page 170 and 171: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER Decorati
Page 172 and 173: would have been consumed in filling
Page 174 and 175: £AMEIlA ••• \Continued 'r_ P
Page 176: 1 ]
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News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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