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Show i WASHINGTON NEWS , -. ' FROM OUR CONGRESSMAN W. K. GRANGER P.eoort World's Largest Sky i Forces In his report to the Secretary of War, Gen. Henry H. Arnold, the commanding general of the ! Army Air Forces, tells a story I of which he and every other A-I A-I merican can well be proud. It ! is a story of American vision, ; daring, enterprise, ingenuity and intelligence, this story of the ! growth of our air power in size and effectiveness until today it constitutes one of the most pow erful fighting forces the world has ever seen. The report reveals that in 1938, just a year before the war in Europe began, the personnel of our air forces numbered only 19,300 men, and ranked seventh among the nations of the world in military aircraft. Yet at the beginning of this year of 1944, the Army Air Forces numbers 2,385,000 men, and is "still growing." grow-ing." Our story of expansion is without parallel in history, for while Germany took 10 years to create her Luftwaffe, "we were required to build our air force in one, and to fight with it in the four corners of the world- at "the same time." In discussing the tremendous expansion in production, he noted that in November, 1943, approximately ap-proximately 8,800 planes were produced in the U. S., as compared com-pared with 2,972 m January, 1942, and 5,013 in January, 1943. The future schedule is an indication of things to come, when he reports re-ports that during the next 18 months the schedule calls for the manufacture of 145,000 planes. He further points out that the planes to come off the assembly lines will be "increasingly heavier heav-ier and more elaborately equipped equip-ped than those now in operation." opera-tion." But, as we go into the fateful year of 1944, the significant fact is that the preparation and the preliminaries are largely over. We are now in the process of closing with the enemy and the grim struggle for supremacy in the air all combat theaters will have been decided before many months have passed. Gen. Arnold left no doubt that the Germans will be the first to weaken. He closed his summation summa-tion of the early, discouraging stages by saying: "It is now plain for us that the beginning bas ended; for our enemies the end has begun." Yet he warns that we may expect "costlier" American plane losses as the air thrust penetrates deeper into the vitals of Germany. And after paying tribute to all who have assisted in this remarkable re-markable accomplishment, he closes his report with these words: "But final tribute must be to the airmen who pit their flesh, skill and steel against the flesh, skill and steel of our enemies. ene-mies. It is they wno are fighting this war." |