WesWorld

[Catching up for earlier in the year.....]

April 15, 1935 - Guymon, OK

The worst dust storm of the year has struck the central plains, towering black walls of dust driven by winds over sixty miles an hour, creating piles and drifts that resemble the snowdrifts that were known in previous decades but that have been far too rare in the long-running drought. Day turned to night, and reports are that visibility fell to less than 5 feet at times. "Three little words achingly familiar on the Western farmer's tongue, rule life in the dust bowl of the continent  if it rains."

The continuing drought on the central plains continues to force farmers on dry land to give up, abandon their land, and seek work elsewhere in the country. While there was work to be had, the US economy was not growing at the moment so the jobs that the ex-farmers were able to get often came someone else's expense. Labor radicalism was on the rise, with the continuing and increasing downward pressure on wages. Strikes were becoming more and more common, along with the disturbances that accompanied the breaking of the strikes. Last year's violence in Minneapolis during the Teamster's strike may only be the beginning.


June 3, 1935 - Langley Army Airfield, VA

The USAAC testing of the German fighter aircraft was getting underway. Several of the 6 Bf-109Bs had already been up, demonstrating that the performance Major Doolittle had reported from his check-ride at the Talons event last year was not a fluke. The new -109Bs were not quite as fast as the -109s that had been at Talons, but those planes had had their skins smoothed and puttied and did not have their wing guns, while the -109Bs had not been puttied and their 0.60 caliber wing guns were in place, muzzle protruding from the wing roots. The pure speed runs had been reporting speeds of around 350 mph, while in a climb it was climbing over 3,000 feet per minute.

But now the wolf-like howl echoing off the runway came from 2 DB-601s being wound up to full speed as the first flight in the US of the Fw-187 began. Major Doolittle released the brakes and the twin-engined fighter roared down the runway, accelerating up and away as it reached takeoff speed. Watching the altimeter spool up as he pulled it into a steady climb, he saw that it wasn't QUITE as good a climber as the BFW product, but the differences weren't large. But up at 16000 feet, in a straight line, the Focke-Wulf was brutally fast: breaking 400 mph with ease. And this was a fighter, not a racing plane! Like the -109Bs that had been delivered, the 3 Fw-187s were seemingly delivered as they would be to the Luftwaffe: armed and painted, but missing national and unit insignia, with no particular modifications to increase speed.

Neither aircraft was going to win medals for their ability to hold a turn, their design did not emphasis sustained turning ability, and their high wing loading meant that a prolonged turning duel with a less loaded adversary would not be something a smart pilot did. But their speed! If used correctly&.. that might well make up for, or more than make up for, their lack of sustained turning ability.

One difference Major Doolittle noticed from the -109 he'd flown the year before to these planes was that the supercharger boost lever was missing, even though the throaty howl of the supercharger was the same. Apparently the Germans had, somehow, managed to make the supercharger boost automatic, which certainly made the pilots life easier in a dive or a climb.


On the ground, tests were being run on the armament that been provided with the German fighters. The MG-17s were different from the 0.30 Browning M1919 used on US fighters, but they were still rifle-caliber machineguns firing ball and tracer rounds through the propeller disk. The big .60 caliber MG-151s in the inner wings, though, were even larger in bore, though about the same in weight, than the 0.50 M2 Brownings used on some US fighters, and the ammunition was very different: where the Brownings had ball and tracer rounds, the German guns had only high explosive. A check with the Luftwaffe attaché in Washington had revealed that that was correct, in Luftwaffe service the MG-151s were currently only fielded with HE rounds on these fighter aircraft. No tracers were used, apparently the MG-17s tracers were regarded as sufficient to aid targeting.

The lack of mechanical synchronizing gear was obvious, and after examinations the reason was clear: the electrical system in use worked better than most mechanical systems.


By the end of the week, a couple things were clear:
1st, the Curtiss P-36 was only going to be worthwhile as a training plane, a new fighter was needed yesterday;
2nd, that performance at higher altitudes than the USAAC had previously expected might well be needed;
3rd, that the use of HE projectiles aboard aircraft should be further explored.

OOC: So a lot of P-36 will be available?

Not a lot, production hasn't really been that large (production is really just getting going). Some, possibly, but that will depend on whether they get used as combat trainers, kept as second-line equipment, etc.

So were does this lead us? The US buying German aircrafts? Hardly.... There´s enough potential in homegrown designs.....

I have actually been caught in several of those dust storm. I gotta say when they are approaching, they are very impressive:

http://pictopia.com/perl/get_image?provi…_photo_id=13030
http://http://www.greatdreams.com/weather/dust-storm-phoenix-7-17-07.jpg

*grumble* for some reason pics wouldn't work.

Nowhere is there any hint of buying German aircraft. The USAAC bought these aircraft back in Q1 and they were delivered in Q2 (see the German posts for those quarters), this is just the post discussing the flight testing of them. The results will be seen in the future, all that's clear at this point is that the current planes are lacking.

Indeed - the US rather has a bad case of "Not made here" regarding particularly military equipment...

Quite so. The US is willing, historically, to buy foreign-designed parts for which it has a production license, or parts that are a small part of the whole, but buying whole objects for military service? Not often.

(Not to mention that neither Focke-Wulf or BFW have the factories to accommodate a massive order on top of the orders they have from the Luftwaffe.)

If the US really wanted FW-187s, it could buy them from Mexico. After all, all the "Made in the USA" Fords and Chevrolets, are actuallly made in Mexico!

But then the P-38 and P-39 were pretty good.

Why do I get the feeling that TNCA isnt doing enough to promote GW aircraft in the Americas...

Because the Germans, Italians and Atlanteans have the market preaty much locked up, while Argentina has plenty of its own excellent designs.

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox

But then the P-38 and P-39 were pretty good.

Apart from when compared to their contemporaries.

The P38s are good kites. The P39s... well, there's a reason we dumped all of ours on the Soviets...

The P-39 was a very good fighter if given a decent supercharger. The US decision to go with a turbocharger instead of improved superchargers almost killed the American inline engine fighter programs.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
(Not to mention that neither Focke-Wulf or BFW have the factories to accommodate a massive order on top of the orders they have from the Luftwaffe.)

Continuing my tiresome habit of shilling for Fokker and it's divisions... Atlantic Aircraft is US based and has 3 US factories to get around that "not made here" bit and Fokker has many over seas. They could build German or there is a wide variety of Fokker/Atlantic designs, generally a little slower with lower wingloadings.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled marketing reports

June 16th , 1935 - Washington, DC

The summer was just beginning, or hadn't even really begun according to the sun, but it was already hot and, in parts of the country, long and dry. The Plains states were continuing to bake and the dust storms continued to roll, consequences of a drought that had begun in 1930 and showed no signs of ebbing. The result was that farmers on lands that had inadequate water had to quit farming, pack up, and move to the cities. That wouldn't be too bad, except that there weren't enough jobs there to absorb the new arrivals. So the new men, needing work, were willing to take jobs at lower wages to get a paycheck, and the business owners were trying to whipsaw their workers into either taking lower wages like the migrants or to replace their workers with migrants. The workers, of course, were fighting back as best they could, forming unions and going on strike. The result was labor unrest across the country.

In the White House, FDR was discussing the situation with the Cabinet and leaders of the House and Senate. "We need to increase employment across the country, but particularly in the cities where these men and their families are. That means manufacturing. But we also need to do something about the younger men who don't yet have families that are getting involved in the unrest. Can we expand the CCC, essentially by a draft?"

Joseph Byrns, the Speaker of the House shook his head, "No, Mr. President, that wouldn't pass muster with Congress."

"Hmmmmm. Table that for a moment. How can we increase manufacturing directly? Lowering tarrifs and so on might help indirectly, but that would take time and we, gentlemen, may not have it."

George Dern, the Secretary of War spoke up, "Well, sir, an obvious way is to pour a lot of money into modernizing the military. Rifle production would be a small help, but small, but planes, tanks, cannon, and ships would be larger. Ships, of course, are still governed by our adherence to the Cleito Treaty, but even there are, I'm sure, places were more could be spent."

FDR nodded. "A start, certainly." He thought a moment. "And if we combined re-equipping with expansion, we'd need more. More manufactured items, more barracks, more everything. More men." He smiled and looked at the Speaker.

"What would Congress say to a draft to increase the size of the military? Certainly the world seems a more dangerous place than it was 10 years ago, with war in South America raging on and sabers being rattled all around the globe. Not to mention Italian and Japanese squadrons exercising off our southern coasts in concert with the Iberians."

The Speaker steepled his fingers and pondered. "It could well pass, depending on how it's presented. The Socialists would like it if it's accompanied by some labor laws. The Republicans might like it if it's presented as making us stronger at home, and they'd like the extra money flowing to the manufacturers. How would it be paid for?"

"That's to be seen. It might just be deficit spending, to keep us out of what appears a yawning abyss of labor unrest."

"In that case, we can be sure the Republicans will be against it, they'll rail against the deficit increasing inflation."

"Let them, we will say it's good for the common man to have money in his pocket, and if his wages rise with inflation, they'll be all right. Next year is an election year, after all."

The Secretary of War, not having expected a discussion of a draft to increase the size of the Army, had been silent. "Assuming we go down this path, how large an expansion are we talking about?"

"I should think it would be large enough to, between the draft and increased production, deal with the labor problem. That's the point."

The Secretary of War looked at the Secretary of the Navy, Claude Swanson, with an expression of surprise. "So, large, then."

OOC: Export a few thousand trucks to Persia?

That wouldn't hurt, but it won't create that many NEW jobs.

June 20, 1935 - Washington, DC

The Secretary of War was meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Army, along with the heads of several service branches.

"Gentlemen, as you know, there's the potential for a sea-change in the status of the War Department and the Army. The President is proposing a peace-time draft, and the expenditure of many millions of dollars, on the military. What should be our first priorities?"

All eyes turned to the Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur. He nodded, and said, "Modernization, in general, but in particular the places we can modernize the most swiftly are in transport, small arms, and artillery. In those areas, we can move forward with purchases to replace older systems and to enlarge the inventory."

"The reports I've seen from our tours in Europe suggest that of our current tank designs, only the M2A4 is at all competitive, and that as a light tank, so we will need to do more work on developing a medium tank design. The version of the M2A4 with the increased armor is close enough that we may be at little risk to use it. We have no armored car design at all, except the wheeled Christie, which was expensive. If money is no object, it might be acceptable, but I doubt it is NO object. We have no anti-tank rifle design ready for production, though the .60 cartridge appears ready for use. The 1.5" anti-tank gun appears mostly ready for production."

"Much depends on just how large the President's plan turns out to be. But for the moment, I would recommend that we focus on those things that are ready for production and stock up, while we use other monies to get things that aren't ready for production ready."


General Foulois, chief of the Army Air Corps, nodded. "I can agree with that. In the case of the Air Corps, we have a few designs that are ready for purchase in large numbers, such as the heavy bombers, transports, and the like, and other areas where we need new designs. The fighters are a prime example of the latter, but so are light bombers."


General MacArthur pondered. "In some other countries, they are setting up units of parachute infantry. Those would be quite useful for a number of our war plans, and would require an increase in the number of transports ordered."

Using military spending to improve the economy is very questionable and not sustainable in the long term. Much better to use cheap labour to build useful things, like infrastructure. Hoover Dam on the Colorado as an example, though without the depression being as bad theres little cahnce of it beig built from lack of labour. Building things like roads and trucks would be much more useful than military arms.