Feverish Activity to Increase Air Force as an Offset to Huge Soviet Fleet Frost Oun Own Tokyo, June 7.
Under the cloak of extraordinary secrecy unknown perhaps in _any other country excepting Soviet Rus sia—and possibly Germany—Japan's fence obsolete military air force is doing transformed Into a gigantic alr armada rivalling that of any coun y-on earth, The principal reasons for he! feverish intensity with which this country is building up its _alr strength are said to be the concentration of some 600 Soviet planes, Including a good-sized armada of heavy bombers, at: Vladivostok, Habarovsk and other cities and towns along the Soviet-Manchoukuo border, and the so-called "air menace" from the United States.
The weakest link in Japan's otherwise powerful war machine has always been ils alr force, Unfortunate-for Japan this is Soviet Russia's strongest weapon. Some of the: world's greatest plane designers are Russians and the Soviet heavy bombers are regarded as being among the most powerful in existence.
According to Japanese military observers the Russians have over a hundred gigantic bombers capable of carrying 'a. ton of high explosives from Vladivostok to Tokyo, dropping these over the Japanese capital and returning to Soviet territory without refuelling.
"Naturally sceptical about its own air strength, Japan has watched the tremendous advance in plane design, engine efficiency and the invention of selentifle devices to guide planes In pitch darkness and In storms, with considerable misgivings.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.