Hundreds of telegrams reached the White House yesterday approving the President's armament prospect, it was reported, The telegrams were said to express particular approval of the proposed construction of 50,000 aeroplanes, which evidently caught the public' imagination, Military experts estimated it would require two and a-half years to build the required number of planes. The immediate objective of Army and Navy officials, however, appeared to be the construction of 20000 planes ior the Army and 10,00 for the Navy.
Military officials admitted they were facing an enormous problem ju the training of the pilots necessary for such an air fleet. Military experts declined to estimate the total cost of 50,000 planes. Some categories of big bombers are now quoted at U.S.$400,- 000, but the greater portion of the proposed programme would consist of smaller, cheaper varieties of planes.
The new aerial programme of the United States is being planned on the latest lessons experts have learned from the European war. Designing has heretofore been largely based ott speed, maneuverability and range.
German airmen, however, are reported to have been mopping up shead of land forces in Scandinavia and also in Holland and Belgium with heavier planes armoured for the protection of pilots. These planes are also reported to be equipped with gas tanks, which apparently are able to withstand innumerable bullet holes and have been armed, not with the usual 30 calibre machine guns, but with 50 calibre, rapid fire guns that shoot a much heavier projectile. Officials said United States planes would possess these advantages in the future.
Factories to be Built At his regular press conference yesterday President Roosevelt indicated the Government will build plane factories to help private firms to speed production to 50,000 planes a year. He said he had cancelled his eek-end trip to his home at Hyde ark. His proposed trip to the west coast will probably be cancelled also because of the intensification of the war in Europe.
Navy Department officials yesterday denied any knowledge of reports that a part of the fleet now at Honolulu was to be shifted soon to the Atlantic.
A spokesman said that while some vessels way have been ordered to the East coast for periodic overhaul, the feet as a whole would remain indefinitely in the Pacific,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.