Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/25

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 18 -- USA HzsToc. SUDmS Air Forc Legs]etion of funds for expediting aircraft production. The Air Corps had requested $180,000,000 to creae 1,447,911 additional square feet of floor space in aircraft manufacturing cilities, and $120,000,000 to expedite the delivery of orders then outstanding. Con- gross granted the $120,000,000 and $1,000,000 of the requested $180,000,000-- a total of $398,000,000for expediting the production and delivery of aircraft. s Shortly afterward the Air Corps decided that additional bomber production capstory was needed and requested addilaonal funds to finance the cost of new plants plus funds for expediting other production. By the fifth supplemental appropriation act for 1941, approved 5 April 1941, Congress granted the War Department $868,286,000 for the creation of mew productive capacity. Of this appropriation the Air Corps received $75,000,000 for increased facilities, and $13,361,090 to care for increasing costs. .. These large appropriations for expediting production were vital to the expansmn pro- gram. If the aircraft industry was hard- pressed to meet the production schedules of the old 5,500 plane program, it is evident that tlle creation of new productive ca- pacity was necessary ff the Air Corps was to attain the new 50,000-plane* goal set by the President in his message to Congress on 16 May 1940. The first increment of the Army's portion of this program called for 18,641 new planes. To meet the greatIy increased production schedules it was necessary to reque.t ever greater sums of money and in 1941 Con- gress granted the Air Corps the largest appropriations yet made for the purpose of expediting production. The program of building government-owned and privately operated plants continued to be expanded through 1941 (and untfi the end of 1942). The funds appropriated for expediting pro- duetion were given to the Secretary of War and allotted to the various services on the basis of programs approved by the National Defense Commission and the President. Exaet amounts gven to the air arm are not always clear, but i received enough to ac- he :Navy complish its task. In-the Nhlitary Appropri- ation Act, 1942, approved 30 June 1941, Congress allowed $1,21,896,000 for exp.dit. ing production for military purposes, which included the production of the very heavy bombers B-29 and B-32. Due to the neces- sity of liquidating prewous contract obliga- tions only about $500,000,000 was available for new expansion. In this connection it should be pointed out that the Air Corps could shift funds from one item of expendi- ture to another and that the Defense Plants Corporation, a subsidiary of RFC, aided in financing additional production facllities. This was the last appropriation made for the expediting of production before Pearl Harbor. The entry of the United States into the war resulted in another great increase of appropriations for expechSng aircraft production. In addition to the enabling acts and ap- propriation legislation enacted to expechte production, Congress also enacted legisla- tmn designed for the purpose of facilitating procurement. Prior to the inauguration of the procurement program in 1939 the num- ber of aircraft procured by the Air Corps was small and the method of procurement was not of maor significance. All aircraft, except experimental and research types, were procured through a process of letting contracts on a competitxve basis. The profit allowed producers could be controlled through the awarding of contracts. Ttns system of procuring aircraft was in effect when the expansion program began in 1939, but the Chief of the Air Corps al- ready had become convinced that changes in procurement procedures were necessary ff the greatly increased aircraœt procure- ment needs of the Air Force were to be met. s One change which the Chief of the Air Corps suggested was legislation author- izing the Secretary of War to procure air- craft upon a negotiated basis, without com- petition, when government requirements could not be met with the competitive bid procedures. While Congress did not act on this sug- gestion untfi 1940, it (hd mcorporate in Public Law 18, 6 Cont., 1 Seas. (approved 3 April 1939), certain changes in procure- THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958
 * Of thee, 3,500 were tr She Army end L%500 ere for