Pacific

American Air Strength In

Chain of New Bases and Growing Masses of Modern Aircraft

JOHNSTON Island, south-west of Hawaii, and Palmyra Island, further south, strategic points in the Cen tral Pacific, were taken over by the US Navy and Air Commands in August.

They will be used as bases for patrol and emergency landing fields, and as fuel depots for seaplanes operating from Hawaii.

The United States Navy Department on August 11, 1939, ordered work to be started on five Pacific Island air bases — two in the Hawaiian Islands and the others at Midway, Johnston and Palmyra Islands respectively. Contracts covering the work were awarded of a total value of 14,607,000 dollars. Subsequently, work was started on a base in Eastern Samoa, where 2,000,000 dollars are being spent.

The scheme is part of a three-year 69,000,000-dollar programme to create a chain of air bases from Alaska to the South Pacific, and to a point where the air forces of the British Empire could establish contact with the United States’ air forces if the two nations should be required to fight on the same side.

Reinforcements at Hawaii WITH weekly reinforcements of aero planes, the numbers of which are a military secret, America is greatly increasing her air power in Hawaii, main bastion of the United States Pacific de fence scheme. As stepping stones for giant bombers, America is rapidly con

structing runways on islands to the westward—to within easy striking dis tance of Japanese territory (says Auckland “Herald” of August 20).

Backbone of this new aerial front is the B-17-D, or four-engined Flying For tress bomber, hundreds of which, inci dentally, are being delivered to Britain for her unrelenting raids upon Germany.

Support from Mainland In May, the United States Army Air Corps proved how easily and quickly Pacific bases can be reinforced from mainland bases, when 21 Flying Fortresses were flown the 2,400 miles from San Francisco to Hawaii in 14 hours.

In addition to B-17-D’s, which operate at 30,000 ft., America is now producing B-17-E’s. These bombers have a pressure cabin to protect the crews at 40,000 ft., an altitude which will keep them above all pursuit aeroplanes.

The speed and altitude performances of the B-17-o E’s make them ideal for use in the Pacific. They have a non-stop range in excess of 4,000 miles, which means that if additional gas tanks were substituted for bomb spaces, they could fly non-stop from Hawaii to Australia.

In California, the Air Corps is now experimenting with the B-19, a bomber much larger than the B-17-E. It has a range of 8,000 miles non-stop, and a bomb load of approximately 18 tons.

The Air Corps has also developed

medium type bombers like the B-24, known in Britain, where it is widely used’ as the Liberator, and the attack-bomber A-20, which Britain calls the Havoc. In action, these high-speed medium bombers protect or support the Flying Fortresses ai lower altitudes. In Hawaii, the A-20 has excelled fighter and pursuit aero planes m both speed and range.

IF enemy bombers approached Hawaii, Flying Portresses would speed out with their heavy demolition loads.

If they failed to frustrate the enemy, medium bombers would follow up and engage it, while the Fortresses flew back to the base to reload for a fresh attack.

This manoeuvre would be repeated with successive waves of Flying Fortresses and medium bombers.

To minimise the chance of an enemy taking Hawaii by surprise, America has developed bases on islands to the west— like Midway and Wake—which would stand the first shock of invasion. Being within easy distance of the main Hawaiian aerodromes, all these bases could be quickly reinforced.

Land Planes Preferred America is methodically discarding dependence upon the naval patrol bombers. She has proved beyond doubt that Army landplane bombers have far higher speeds, can lift greater bomb loads, and, of course, can fly just as far out to sea in perfect safety to locate an enemy.

It is important to bear in mind that an analysis of the damage done by German air power to British warships and other shipping shows that all the Nazi bombers are landbased—landplanes sent out from strategic bases. America is duplicating this strategy in Hawaii so that US bombers will dominate every mile of the Pacific’s routes.