Show military bigwigs battle A APROPOS THE CURRENT itow HOW t between tha 0 borc forces s and the army navy tt it Is interesting to recall that in 1940 tho the army asked aske d congress for or only six flying fo stresses rt tills this was one year after war broke in europe yet the army still see tile need ot of planes and had it not been for congressman ross colllns collins of mississippi who demanded more planes the army would have been worse prepared than it was today president truman an ex artilleryman is siding with secretary forrestall Forre reavy and ground forces while congress as in 1040 Is siding with the air force backstage battling between forrestal and d air secretary symington has been even more viti lolle than most people rea realize lizi H here re is part of the repartee artee du during ringa a locked door session of the senate armed services service committee between the a air secretary and the man who is supposed to be his boss SYMINGTON the air force for three years has said tt it needed the 70 group program in peacetime and it has bever never deviated deviate because of the strategic aspect of the 70 groups wo we asked this year what what wo we asked for in 1947 and 1918 1948 you have to exercise some judgment between extremes there is a middle middleground ground for judgment which as c say I 1 hav haqq 9 to rely on the joint chiefs of staff to furnish me with and they ar are going to haye have a very hard bard wrestling match to do it in addition to the 70 regular groups the air force is asking for 27 groups dorair for air national guard 34 groups for air reserve 22 squadrons tor for such activities as reconnaissance n a ls sance fairweather air weather and air communications the increase from 65 55 to 70 groups will meana mean a corresponding increase from to men by the end of 1949 1049 if the 70 group program is approved the air force plans on adding 1512 airplanes in fiscal year 1949 tho the big increase would be in bomber strength under the 65 group program the air force would be limited to bombers under the 70 group program this would be increased to bombers that is roughly a 50 per cent increase in our striking force foice gen touhy touby spaatz told the senators th the P plane lane we would woul d liked teto to conk coni tanua to build added symington is a modification of the B 21 11 he pointed out that the first had ai a bomb load of 2000 pounds whereas the present bomb load is pound pounds the original range was miles the present range Is miles and the expected range ts Is miles however the B 29 alrea already dyl has been flown bore more than statute miles with pounds of bombs symington disc disclosed ased i air force maneuvers IN MANEUVERS OVER GREAT BRI BRITAIN TAINi theair the air force has demon strat edits ability to slip a bombing yn mission I 1 s a I 1 0 n of B 29 Super fortresses through the equivalent of dussias Rus sias defenses lt gen curtis le may air force chief in europe arranged with the royal air F force orce to send a mock mission against britaina Brit ains tight ter cepter and radar net because of long experience during the war the british net Is supposed to be the most efficient in the world Ilo however wever the B not only broce through to their target but most of them never were detected secret of the american success was altitude the big forts flew in at coiling of feet As a result of the maneuvers a air fr force orce strategists are convinced thai thal the iron curtain around the soviel could never stop a highflying high flying mis tion sion of B especially since rus sias defenses are stretched out over thousands of miles compared to the relatively small area defended by britain noie Not eThe the joint british american maneuvers were pulled off bagen by gen oral eral le la may without orders from washington macarthurs Mac Arthurs triumphal tour G GENERAL E N ER A L macarthurs ARTHURS Mac BOOSTERS are trying to find away a way to revive their heros battered larity despite the il drubbing rubbing macarthur received in california wis coasin and nebraska congressman A L miller of nebraska says macarthur did not quit at bataan and he bo Is 1 still a very lve live candidate now I 1 am amazed that anyone should count the general out next move being urged by mae mac arthura Arthur 6 ti friends Is his immediate returns return 0 0 o the united states stages for a heros ovation if alacar thur flies to california and makes a triumphal uni phal cross country rear plat form train trip to washington with a speech to a joint session of congress they claim ills his political appeal be ba revived other public observers believe Ra macarthur cArthur might wind up with as ai many boos as cheers on such A tour in addition it would just about ruin work is as commander of occupied japan C A |