Impossibilities Take Time

A vast air force cannot be maintained now in China if it must be supplied by air alone. That was the clearly implied meaning of Lieut. General Henry H. Arnold's report to the people last week after his recent visit to China.

Speaking at the Manhattan rally for Madame Chiang Kai-shek (see p. 13), General Arnold said that President Roosevelt had sent him to Chungking with instructions to find out how best to build up air strength in China. He told the public why it could not be done by transport planes. Reasons:

--There are not enough planes. "We are fighting the Axis on nine different fronts. . . . A huge number of planes cannot be sent to any one theater without taking them away from another. We have no surplus, no extra aircraft--each one is earmarked in the factory for a definite theater, a definite task. Aircraft production is certainly on the upgrade, but for a while, at least, we must fight today's war with today's planes" (see p. 60).

-- Operational hazards on the India-China airlines are terrific. "Our men must fly across mountains higher than the Rockies. They must fly over or close to Japanese-held territory. In winter, the planes ice up; in summer they fight thunderstorms and cyclones. In some parts of India it rains as much in one day as it does in a year in New York. In other parts it rains practically never. Severe dust storms are frequent."

-- China has no fuel. "Every gallon of gasoline used by our forces in China goes in by air. Each cargo plane must carry--in addition to its normal load--enough gasoline to get back to India."

The last reason was the greatest. A China-based force of 400 bombers and 100 fighters--to take an arbitrary but respectable figure--would require some 75,000 tons a month of gasoline, bombs and ammunition (figuring 15 offensive missions a month for each plane). Necessary movements from base to base, other administrative flying would require still more. Four-engined transports can carry about ten tons of pay load, but, allowing four tons for crew, equipment and return gasoline, they can carry only about six fighting tons from India to China on each trip. In other words, 1,000 of the biggest transports, each making more than twelve round trips a month, would be required to keep such a force going. Neither the planes nor adequate fields on either end of the line are now available.

Real aid to China, real use by the Allies of China's bases for war against Japan, await the clearing of a land supply route, probably through Burma. Said General Arnold: "We have a motto which certainly applies to air operations in the Far East: 'The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.' "

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