A Lot of Airplanes

The War Production Board had good news for the U.S. last week: October air craft production hit a new record of 8,362 planes (764 more than September), thus reached the long-sought 100,000-a-year rate for the first time./-

Overall monthly totals may conceal grave lags in the kind of bombers and fighters the armed forces need most. For window-dressing purposes, any month's total could easily be pushed to 10,000 by concentrating on trainer planes. But the October figures were solid, according to WPB production experts.

In its almost incredible expansion from 3,675 planes a year in 1938 to 8,362 a month now, the aircraft industry passed through three turbulent phases:

> Building the plant capacity needed.

> Getting the materials.

> Finding 1,900,000 new workers.

By last summer the plants were finished and materials shortages well in hand. Now the industry is making rapid progress on

Problem III--manpower--and meanwhile the flood of design changes stemming from last spring's battles has receded.

With plants and materials at hand, and product stabilized for the time being, the aircraft industry is close to its maximum possible output: about 9,000 planes a month from a line operating so smoothly that production emphasis can be shifted to any kind of plane the Army & Navy want.

/-Estimated aircraft production of Axis nations: Cermany, not more than 24,000 a year: Japan, not more than 15,000.

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