(The information as to boatbuilders is shown in the following table :)

Boatbuilders at the Philadelphia and other east coast navy yards

12 helper wookworkers to be assigned other work Feb. 1, and 2 others Mar. 1. The 6 boatbuilders be assigned suitable work if available. Includes 1 leadingman boat builder.

Mr. DITTER. Admiral, referring back to this reserve policy that we discussed at the very beginning of your appearance, has the administration's policy held up construction in any way?

Admiral Du BOSE. You mean construction of new ships?

Mr. DITTER. Yes.

Admiral Du Bose. No, sir.

Mr. DITTER. One other question on boatbuilding: Is it a fact that this boatbuilding science had its birth and was largely started in and around the Philadelphia Navy Yard?

Admiral Du BOSE. I doubt that, because the heart and center of wooden-ship building, which of course would include boatbuilding, was in New England.

Mr. DITTER. I mean in more recent years; has not the Delaware been looked upon as the center boatbuilding?

Admiral Du BOSE. For ship construction, not boatbuilding. As a matter of fact, my first duty in the Navy was at the Portsmouth. N. H., Navy Yard, and we thought at that time, and for many years following that, that we were the boatbuilding center of the Navy. The Portsmouth Navy Yard in those days was building large numbers of boats. As I stated a while ago, they are now building nothing except boats required by submarines, which are small and few in number.

Mr. DITTER. In more recent years has not the Philadelphia Navy Yard become the center of this boatbuilding activity, and have not its apprentices gone out into other navy yards very largely as the inspiration and genius of this boatbuilding activity!

Admiral Dr BOSE. No, sir; I would not say so, because as far as the Navy Department is concerned, the principal boatbuilding yari has for a number of years been Norfolk. Philadelphia has built boats; so has New York; so has Boston; but the principal boatbuilding yard on the east coast has been Norfolk.

Mr. UMSTEAD. That concludes your items, Admiral, and we thank you for the information you have given us.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1937.

BUREAU OF AERONAUTICS

STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL A. B. COOK, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF AERONAUTICS; CAPT. A. C. READ; CAPT. S. M. KRAUS, CAPT. E. A. COBEY (S. C.); COL. R. E. ROWELL, U. S. M. C.; COMMANDER C. A. POWNALL; COMMANDER A. C. DAVIS; COMMANDER F. W. PENNOYER; COMMANDER F. B. STUMP; COMMANDER E. L. MARSHALL (C. E. C.); LT. COMDR. RICO BOTTA; LT. COMDR. C. A. NICHOLSON; LT. COMDR. F. L. BAKER; LT. COMDR. G. H. DE BAUN; LT. COMDR. W. L. REES; LT. COMDR. I. M. McQUISTON; LT. T. T. TUCKER; LT. P. D. STROOP; LT. G. T. MUNDORFF; JOHN B. MAY, AND JEROME MAY

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. UMSTEAD. We shall now take up the estimates of the Bureau of Aeronautics. Admiral Cook, we shall be glad to hear you at this time.

BASIS OF ESTIMATES

Admiral Cook. The estimates for 1939 are based upon the estimate of the situation, the operating force plan and the naval aeronautic organization, for the fiscal year 1939, as approved and promulgated by the Secretary of the Navy. The amounts of the various estimates under this appropriation are based upon the obligations and expenditures for the fiscal year 1937 which, being the latest figures available, provide the most reliable index of estimated future expenditures. A brief statement of the 1939 estimates follows, grouped under the four projects: Project 1, navigational, photographic, aerological, and radio equipment; project 2, maintenance and operation; project 3, experiments and development; and project 4. new construction of aircraft.

NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENTS AND SUPPLIES

The importance of adequate navigational instrument equipment both for the purpose of extending the operating sphere of aircraft and for reducing the hazards of flight, particularly in bad weather and at night, has been demonstrated in commercial as well as military flying. The need for replacement instruments is as urgent as that for new instruments purchased with the airplane.

The greatly increased range and reliability of naval aircraft and the ability to employ them on long distance overseas operations have made the navigational problem one of the highest importance. The complexities have been intensified by the fact that many operations are associated with fast-moving aircraft carriers. Such operations cannot be successfully accomplished without adequate navigational instrument aids, both for dead reckoning and for astronomical observations.

PHOTOGRAHIC EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Each succeeding year sees a greater and greater demand throughout the Navy for aerial photographs. This demand is largely accounted for by the manifest superiority of photographs taken from the air over those taken on the surface, when required for purpose of study and investigation in connection with the operations of the fleet at sea and development of naval bases on shore. Aerial photographs are regularly taken of ships firing target practice. Aerial surveys are conducted for the Navy and for other departments of the Govern

ment.

Motion pictures are taken of landings on aircraft carriers and of all test and experimental catapult launchings. Very valuable information is obtained in this way. The Naval Aeronautic organization is being called upon more and more each year for aerial photographs, and aerial photography is becoming of increasing importance to the Navy as a whole.

AEROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS AND SUPPLIES

Adequate aerological equipment and service are indispensable to the success and safety of naval aviation. The knowledge of present and future weather conditions is of recognized importance in planning and carrying out operations with all types of aircraft. Cloud heights, wind velocities and directions at all flying levels, the vertical distribution of temperature and humidity, horizontal and vertical visibility. and the presence of abnormal weather conditions, are all of major importance in carrying out operations in the air as well as being of great value to fleet operations in general. This detailed information is supplied in the Navy by aviation aerological personnel from a study of daily weather maps and from observations made at the forecasting stations.

RADIO EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

The demand for adequate radio equipment for naval airplanes is constantly increasing. More and more, each year, the fleet depends upon radio communication. This applies during target practice, during maneuvers, when engaged in war problems and, in fact, during all operations at sea. With the advent of the carriers, aircraft have come to play a most important part in fleet operations. During fleet problems and other fleet exercises, aircraft are called upon to take an increasingly extensive part, involving constant flying, and fre quently under most difficult conditions. During such operations adequate and positive radio communication is indispensable, not only to insure the success of the operation but to protect the lives of the men in the air.

MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION

The maintenance and operation of the greatly expanded naval aeronautic organization for the fiscal year 1939 will necessarily require a corresponding expansion of overhaul and repair facilities

and also a material increase in airplane fuel consumption and other maintenance and operating expenditures, as compared with the fiscal year 1938. The number of operating airplanes will increase from 1.303 in 1938 to 1,415 in 1939. This is an increase of 8.6 percent. The cost of all aviation material and supplies has increased about 13 percent, which could not have been foreseen at the time the Budget estimates for 1938 were prepared. The result is that in order to fill the current 1938 requisitions for spare parts, materials, and so forth, for the overhaul of aircraft, this Bureau has found it necessary to reduce drastically all requisitions for overhaul and stock materials and has been able to provide only those items necessary to fill immediate requirements. The natural result of this condition is a hand-to-mouth existence, with seriously depleted stocks of material, so that at times it is necessary to interrupt the overhaul of an airplane in order to procure the material necessary to complete the work. Mr. UMSTEAD. I take it from the statement you just made that your stocks are not carried in the naval-supply account.

Admiral Cook. No, sir; they are not, Mr. Chairman. The navalsupply account carries stocks which are more or less common to all of the other branches of the Navy. Our stocks are highly specialized; even our nuts and bolts are not standard with the rest of the Navy. You have put your finger right on the difficulty, Mr. Chairman. That is, if we could use the naval-supply account fund for our specialized stocks, or if we could have a similar fund within the Bureau of Aeronautics, similar to the naval-supply account, we would not be in this condition as to supplies which I have outlined.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Admiral, would it be practical to do so in view of the rapid changes which are brought about in materials and equipment that go into the construction of aircraft?

Admiral Cook. That is an objection to putting it in the navalsupply account fund, due to the rapid obsolescence and changes in the material, but, in the end, it would not cost any more, Mr. Chairman, to have a supply fund which we could use for that purpose. Obsolesecence comes whether we buy piecemeal or whether we buy in some other way. I think the ultimate results in the reduction of time required for overhauling and construction justify it. The increased size and complexity of new airplanes as compared with our older prototypes has materially increased the cost of overhaul and maintenance. Similarly, the large new engines required for increasingly high performance, so essential in military airplanes, are using much more fuel as horsepowers increase.

The existing shortage of materials in 1938 will be carried over into 1939. The maintenance estimates herein contained have been reduced to the very minimum compatible with safe and efficient operation and overhaul, and no allowance has been made for deficiencies occurring in 1938, nor for any increase in costs over those existing in July 1937 when these estimates were prepared.

The figures given below are indicative of the reduced amounts available, per plane, for operations and overhaul in the 1939 estimates as compared with the 1932 appropriation. This condition has been aggravated by the increased costs of materials, increased cost of overhauls due to the greater complexity and size of airplane struc

tures, and the increased fuel and oil consumption due to the greatly increased horsepower of the modern engines.

In the fiscal year 1932 the number of planes operated was 523, the funds available for fleet operations were $2,453,055, and the amount available per plane for fleet operations, of fleet aircraft, which has nothing to do with shore aircraft, was $4,690 per plane. In the 1939 estimates there are 1,048 fleet operating planes, the total amount requested is $4,140,000, and the amount available per plane is $3,950, or a reduction of $740 per plane. The horsepower of these planes in use at the present time, as compared with those in use in 1932, is double, so that twice the amount of gasoline is used. I merely bring this point out to show you that there has been a very material reduction in the cost of operation despite the fact that we are using larger and more powerful planes.

Overhaul of aircraft

In 1932 the total number of planes operated afloat and ashore was 725, for which there was available for overhaul $4,225,775, making the amount of $5,829 available per plane. In 1939 there are 1.415 planes to be operated afloat and ashore, for which there is available $7,422,000, or an average of $5,245, making a reduction of $584 per plane.

Mr. UMSTEAD. With reference to the cost of operation and the e of overhauls, cannot savings be effected on planes which you expect to be in service in 1939 as compared with those in service in 1932, br reason of improvements in design, machinery, and mechanical operation?

Admiral Cook. There is no over-all saving, Mr. Chairman, in the costs of operation and overhaul. While a saving is made in overhaul, due to the increased intervals between overhauls of the modern plane as compared with the older one, the overhaul, when it does occur, is very much more expensive. That is due to the fact that these older planes were of much simpler construction, being made largely with wooden wings and fabric covering, whereas the modern planes are made with metal wings and metal fuselages. The operations of the modern planes are more costly than those of the older ones, due to greatly increased horsepower of the modern engines, with the consequent increase of fuel consumption.