1t the Navy had to go to war—all-out war—today, it would of course have to fight with the 1,800-odd combat planes it has, Today the fleets have their full complements of men and planes. -That is, each of Admiral Towers' six carriers has a squadron of. two squadrons of scouts, one squadron of torpedo planes (which can also serve as bombers. carty either an 1,8001b* torpedo or three 500Ib. bombs). Battleships and cruisers have their normal numbers of catapulted scout observation and bomber planes. Of the planes in 3 foo large a number still are old types which would be better withdrawn from combat units. to put in schools for advanced trainers. Even so, Admiral Towers insists, most of them would be as good as any naval aircraft they might go up against.
Last February, Admiral Towers told Congress that "very few" of his plane& then had modern armour and self-sealing tanks. 1941 standards. most of them were under-armed-
of fine, fully armed fighters for its But the Navy is now pim quantity delivery Admiral Towers could wish that hops. Back at their bases, refuel the planes are ready to go a: tuckered-out crews are rested. Admiral Towers would like to have two and even three crews for each boat. Similarly. he wants to have complete reserve units of crews and planes for his carriers (a week of constant. hazardous carrier flying can pretty well exhaust pilots).
Carriers are much on Jack Towers' mind nowadays. The Fleets now have six in service, a seventh (the Hornet) alm the biggest holes in the Navy's preparations for war (especially in the Atlantic). One temporary stopgap: conversion of merchant vessels por his. stil strong l future Admiral Towers has at last been ping ror his ler naval air force of
mised plenty of long-range. heavy-duty patrol bombers. The Navy, plans io buy about 1500 {cost per plane: $150,000 and no). Glenn Mai Fel ey of navies. They are a type which Jack Towers has. espoused for years and was able to get the U.S. Navy to accept in quantity only when World War LI began.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.