Faith in the Future

AVIATION

Planemaker Donald Douglas again made important news in the U.S. aircraft industry. From 17 U.S. banks he got a credit of $75,000,000, to finance the building of postwar planes. Unlike other big credits to planemakers, this one was not guaranteed by the Federal Government. As such it was: 1) the biggest unguaranteed credit ever extended to a planemaker; 2) tangible evidence of Donald Douglas' faith in the future.

Said one Douglas bigwig: "We're not going to build busses or sewing machines or washtubs after the war. We're going to build airplanes."

Best guess is that the Douglas postwar planes, at least at first, will be civilian versions of the famed 50-passenger, four-motored C-54 army transport and the even bigger DC-7. Planemaker Douglas also has on the drawing boards plans for small "feeder-line" planes, i.e., planes for short hops to "feed" transcontinental routes. All these will probably be far more expensive to build than prewar planes because of their size, high aircraft wages, etc., which is one big reason Douglas wants plenty of working capital on hand.

Planemaker Douglas is manifestly determined to keep as much of his plant and as many workers as possible at work. But $75,000,000 will provide but a small cushion against the avalanche of cutbacks expected at war's end. This sum would meet Douglas' present payroll for only about three months.

Last week Douglas got its first taste of what is to come. The Army cut back attack bomber (A20) production. Douglas began to lay off 8,000. But it had plans to re-employ them within the next few months on new contracts.

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