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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0866.PDF
ApRrn j&7TH- '944 Lockheed Lightnings be ng cleaned prior to fina assembly, modification, and delivery to combat units. Airpower Support A Review of U.S. Air Service Command Operating in this Country : Contrast of Size and Detail By C. B BAILEY-WATSON V ERY few people, relatively speaking, can have an accurate idea of the extent of American air power, and all that it entails, based in the British Isles. On a recent air tour covering England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I was privileged to glimpse, in some necessarily small measure, the immensity and complexity of the U.S. Air Service Command. No intensive knowledge of an organisation so vast as this could possibly be obtained from a short tour. A month would hardly suffice. Never theless, by travelling round with typical American '' urge,'' we managed to see a great deal, hear a bewilder ing spate of incredible statistics and cover many weary leg-miles, and even more jeep-miles, at each stop. The tour was made in an ex-Service Fortress named "Slap- Happy," which, I was told by her crew chief, has logged more than 1,000 hours in the last year, and averaged one landing an hour. She has used up three sets of landing gear. We started the trip by visiting the War Room at Air Service Command •Headquarters, and meeting Major - General H. J. Knerr, Officer Commanding U.S.A.S.C. In this room are dozens of master charts which record the day-to-day status of aircraft movements, losses, supplies, modifications, serviceability, etc., throughout the Com mand—which embraces the whole of the United King dom. This room typified other rooms and systems which we were to see The graphic representation of variables is something of which the Americans are very fond, and in this instance it certainly appears to be efficient. It was whilst at Headquarters that we were given some interest ing figures on the estimated costs, through the ages, of killing an enemy soldier They are as follows: — In Caesar's time .. .. .. 3s. gd In Napoleon's time • . . ^750 American Civil War.. .. .. £1,250 1914-18 War .. . £5,250 Present War .. . . . . .. £12,500 The U.S.A.A.F. feel that they have established a record in this line by shooting down enemy aircraft at an esti mated individual cost of only £10,000. It seems fantastic on the face of it that it is 25 per cent, more costly to kill a soldier than destroy an aircraft. Reciprocal Aid Several thousands of U.S.S.T.A.F. (U.S. Strategic and Tactical Air Force) personnel have been trained by R.A.F. instructors at R.A.F. schools, and many have had between six and nine months' training in America prior to arriving here. Over 90 per cent, of U.S.S.T.A.F. instal lations are British built and British owned, this being only one small phase of that sometimes sadly overlooked thing, reciprocal aid—or Lend /Lease "in reverse." The extent of reciprocal aid has steadily increased during the past six months, and Colonel Newberry, officer command ing Supply Division, informed us that his division pro cures about 13 per cent, of its stock from British concerns. such items as raw materials, tube and bar stock, timber, stationery, etc., whilst all fuel comes into this theatre through the British Petroleum Board. This was a most heartening thing to hear, and certainly, whatever sundrjy
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