|
JAPAN is believed to have not more than 3,000 aeroplanes of all types. One authority asserts that to place her fighter strength at 1,000 aircraft would be an exaggeration. The reported highest speed of any of her machines is 310 m.p.h. All the military machines are said to be inferior copies of the world's second-best aircraft designed six years ago. According to independent observers, at least a quarter of Japan's planes have to be replaced every year. This view indicates that they are not capable of standing up to hard use when on active service. Japan is also faced with the problem of home production of aircraft. Dr. Dagenfuehr, the official German aircraft statistician, was reported to have claimed that Japan's productive capacity was not big enough to cope with her needs in a major war. If this is the case she would have to import a substantial proportion of her requirements. Japan has not an independent Air Force. Her squadrons are divided between the army and Navy. The Army has some 16 aviation regiments, each of four squadrons, one-third being fighter and reconnaissance, and two-thirds bomber and bomber reconnaissance. The Naval Air Service is credited with 40 to 60 squadrons, and it is claimed to be third only to Britain and the United States in aircraft tonnage. Preparations to meet any emergency in the Pacific have been made by both the British and American authorities. The R.A.F. command at Singapore started receiving at the beginning of this year powerful reinforcements of modern bombers, twin-engined fighters, and single-engined fighters. They include American machines. Brewster Buffalo fighters are in service in Singapore, and American bombers are also reported to have been flown by American pilots from California across the Pacific to Hawaii, and from there to Singapore by easy stages by British pilots. Australian Planes SQUADRONS of the Royal Australian Air Force have been in Malaya for some time. A considerable number of aerodromes have been built and are being built in Singapore. The United States has no separate Air Force like the R.A.F. There is the Army Air Corps, the Naval Air Service, and Marine Corps and Coast Guard Air Forces. The Army Air Corps is at present being trebled under a plan announced by the Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, in October. This provides for 400,000 flying cadets and enlisted men by next June, and, if possible, for 500,000 after that. The training programme previously in operation aimed at 30,000 pilots and 10,000 technicians a year. This programme called for 25,000 planes. But Mr. Stimson declined to say how many of these were in service or how many were planned under the enlarged scheme. The United States War Department stated, however, that on June 3 the Air Corps included 10,697 Regular and Reserve officers and 8,707 flying cadets, and that 126,666 recruits had been enlisted. America has aircraft-carriers in the Pacific equipped with 100 planes, and her bombers could be brought within easy distance of their objectives. Six R.A.F. aces with special experience of fighter and bomber operation were attached to the United States Army Air Corps in October "for an exchange of knowledge between the two Air Forces." While Japan must have used her aircraft-carriers to have bombed Pearl Harbour, Manila, on the other hand, could have been reached by bombers from bases either in Japan or French IndoChina. Manila is protected by the Gibraltar-like fortress of Corregidor, which is well equipped with anti-aircraft batteries. Japan possesses a chain of aerodromes stretching from the islands of Kiushiu, the Lu-Chu Islands, and Formosa. By using these stepping-stones she can bring Manila within a 560-miles range of her Air Force. Naval and air protection of the Philippines and the Hawaiian islands has been strengthened considerably during the past year. Third Largest Navy JAPAN'S Navy is the third largest in the world. In the past 18 months is has been strengthened by the addition of more than a dozen 2,000-tons destroyers alone. The last official record of its total strength showed that it comprised nine capital ships, five aircraft-carriers, 12 heavy cruisers, 27 other cruisers, 112 destroyers, 59 submarines, and 12 torpedo boats. The personnel numbered about 107,000. It is possible that since then there have been additions to the battleship strength, and that there are four more aircraft-carriers. It was reported last March that she was building a 45,000-tons battleship, and it had been previously stated that she was constructing eight 43,000-tons vessels. But America has planned even greater giants. It was stated in the House of Representatives in March that the next five battleships to be built under the two-ocean Navy programme would be from 60,000 to 65,000 tons each. An unofficial estimate given in July gave the strengths of the two Navies as:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U.S. / Japan America's naval expansion has been accelerated so considerably lately that a new warship was being launched every week and 38 keels for new vessels laid. Five destroyers and a battleship were launched in five days in September alone. It was then announced that of the warships ordered under the £1,800,000,000 two-ocean programme, those under construction included 17 battleships, 12 aircraft-carriers, 54 cruisers, 74 submarines, and 197 destroyers.
|