Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/21

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 Air Fo'ce Legi$iation On 3 April 1940, however, the House Com- mittee on Appropriations reported the mili- tary appropriation bill for the fcal year 1941 to the House of Representatives with recommendations for substantial reduc- tions. The total Air Corps appropriation rec- ommended was $105,762,162 cash and $10,000,000 in contractual authority-- $186,646,172 cash and $45,780,500 m con- tractual authority had been requested.. Although the bill passed the House on 4 April 1941, the Senate was still holding hearings on the measure when the whole situation was changed by the unleashing of the German BHtzkrieg in Western Europe3 The end of the "phony war" in the spring of 1940, and the rapid advance of the Nazis to the English Channel, made the American defense program appear woefully inade- quate. President RooSevelt, in his address to Congress on 15 May 1940, warned of the dangers which confronted the Urnted States as a result of the rapid sweep of the German armies over Western Europe under an um- brella of superior air power. The President placed especial emphasis on the role of air power as an offensive weapon, pointing out that because of the long range and speed of modern aircraft, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans could no longer be relied upon as adequate defensive barriers for the United States--it was necessary to change our en- tire concept of national defense. This new concept emphasized the vital role of air power. Mr. Roosevelt stressed a great in- crease in productive capacity as the princi- pal air requisite of an adequate national defense. He urged on Congress a tremen- dous increase in aircraft production, asking for .a program which would give an annual production of 50,000 military and naval planes.t To implement ths program he re- quested cash appropriations totaling $896,000,000 and authorizations for the making of contract obligations to the 1The comml[tee al=o recommended a gran o otl one-hall the spplemetal fuads requested ntil Z resrYey of the procurement it, mion and the effect of fcrclg orders cotfid be made. &lf, hough [he President eked for  tremendous Increase in atrerf prodt½tlon, he asked Oonree$ at the same rime tO tke no ctlon which would hamper cr delay the delivery of American-made planes to friendly foreign powers amount of $286,000,000. The details of the appropriations and authorization. asked for were to be gven to Conõross. o In another message to Congress on 31 May 1940 President Roosevelt again phasized the critical need for hastening to put the country in a position to defend itself against any danger which might threaten its security. He said: "... the almost incredible events of the past two weeks in the European conffict to- gether with the possible consequencs of urther development, necessitate another enlargement of our military program." He emphasized the value of speed, especially in the enlargement of the program for meeting our equippnng and training needs, and pointed out that more than one billion dollars must be appropriated to meet these needs.i Certainly drastic action was necessary. On 17 May 1940 the Air Corps had only 421 pursuit planes on hand and 261 of these were in overseas possessions. Delays in deliveries of new planes on order and the need for great numbers of training planes compl,cated the problem of a rapid increase in the number of pursuit planes available for combat. Obmousty the air arm was far from adequate for defense purposes. Congress, consmous of the danger of an inadequate defense, took measures to pro- wde added funds for the Air Corps. H. 9209, the 1941 military appropriation bill, was nov amended to provide a great in- crease in appropriations: $265,886,418 in cash and $103,300,000 in contract authori- zations were provided for the Air Corps as compared with a total of $212,42õ,672 pro- vided by the original bill. The amended bill was approved by both houses and be- carne Public Law 611, 76 Cong., 3 Sess., on 13 June 1940. Known as the Military Ap- propriation Act, 1941, this law provided that of the amounts granted m cash and in contract authorizations, not less than $123,741,994 was to be applied for new air- planes and their eqmpment and accessories, and of this sum $82,661,994 was to be spent or combat planes. These funds were to re- main available until 30 June 1942 and the {},000-plane limitation set up in Public Law THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958
 * See boYe, p 15