the mileages in the record so that you may see the distances saved in going by the shortest routes, instead of via the former idea of routes. The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to have you do so. (The routes referred to are as follows:) Route No. AIR ROUTES OF THE ARCTIC AREA Nonstop distances in statute miles 1. Cartwright-Julianehaab__. *2. Churchill-Glasgow 3. Fairbanks-Attu. 4. Fairbanks-Dutch Harbor_ 5. Fairbanks-Murmansk 6. Fairbanks-Petropavlovsk 7. Fairbanks-Yakutsk__. 8. Julianehaab-Reykjavik. 9. Khabarovsk-Yakutsk 10. New York-Belfast_. 11. New York-Cairo 12. New York-Calcutta_. 13. New York-Cartwright 14. New York-Chunking-. *15. New York-Chungking (via Capetown, Bombay, Sadiya). 634 3, 455 1, 642 997 3, 280 2, 027 2, 465 842 952 3, 198 5, 620 8,000 16. New York-Fairbanks *17. New York-Glasgow- 18. New York-Manila 19. New York-Mexico City. 20. New York-Moscow *21. New York-Moscow (via Capetown, Abadan)– *22. New York-Murmansk_ 1, 210 7,655 16, 120 3, 285 3, 595 8, 610 2, 136 4, 640 16, 600 4, 970 23. New York-Murmansk. 4, 060 24. New York-Panama 2,252 *25. New York-Petropavlovsk (via Northwest Passage). *34. San Francisco-Manila (via Midway, Wake, Guam). *35. San Francisco-Murmansk 818 1,510 5,750 (Rand McNally's Principal World Air Line For the Air Age) PROGRESS UNDER CIVIL AERONAUTICS ACT Colonel GORRELL. The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, which resulted from this committee's deliberations over a period of 2 years, was, without question, a farsighted piece of legislation conceived, indeed, in the very spirit which Congressman Reece displayed in his opening question, to which I have referred. The Congress may well take pride in the tremendous steps forward which the industry has been able to take as a result of that bill. As a matter of fact, the industry in 1938 was practically broke. Some companies would have failed in just a few months had you not so timely passed the bill as you did. Today the industry's foundation is much more secure. Before the bill went through, our industry could hardly borrow a nickel from anyone. But since then the bankers have begun to lend generously and what is very important, one of the first loans we obtained was from the insurance fraternity. Aviation is going to need hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and, in addition to going to the banks, we hope to borrow from the insurance people rather freely. That will be made possible by the stability Congress provided by the elimination of the destructive practices that had been going on prior to 1938. Many Members of the Congress on both sides of the aisle and in both Houses took an aggressive part in achieving that legislation. They will, we hope, feel amply repaid for their time and patience and effort if, through the contributions of civil aeronautics in the great struggle in which our nation is now engaged, the war can be shortened by so much even as a single week. For we are spending today in our effort to drive forever from the face of the earth the forces of tyranny and aggression, a total sum which exceeds in the space of each 7 days the entire amounts which have been expended by this Government upon civil aeronautics from the very beginning of our history until this moment. As a matter of fact, the chances are very likely that 1 or 2 days' war expenditures will equal every dollar Uncle Sam has ever spent on civil aviation. I can and will be glad to tell you in executive session, of a couple of instances where just a handful of our airplanes, voluntarily given-not taken from our industry by force was able to change perhaps the whole course of this war, perhaps from defeat to ultimate victory. So, America has been amply repaid by your foresight and your expenditures. Incidentally, people sometimes talk about the amounts a Federal Government spends on airways. I will come again to that later in my testimony. But please note that up to 1938 when you enacted the Civil Aeronautics Act, the air line companies themselves had spent more cash building airway than had the Federal Government to that date. Our Army, in 1938, 1937, and 1936, was forced to turn to the air lines and say, "Please won't you turn on your lights, so that we can practice night flying?" It was a horrible condition caused by lack of Federal appropriations and one that I hope Congress will never let happen again. People think that airway aids were being built solely for the commercial air lines. That is not so. We would love to have a right-of-way like the railroads. We would build it, build our own airways if we were given the opportunity and would be thankful for the chance. The air lines did about 17 percent of the flying on these airways before we started to prepare for the war. On these airways today the percentage of flying by air lines is insignificantly small. Today the flying is mainly military. Previously it was mainly military and private flying. I will discuss this subject in detail later, but I might say at this point that some of those airway aids, which your foresight put in are being pulled up and taken to the four corners of the earth and are being used to establish guides for the pilots of our Army and our Navy and our allies. The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 was frankly experimental. The Congress had never theretofore adopted such elaborate regulation for an industry so young. It is fair to say that had our country's aviation assets not been so precious and had the world situation not been so critical, it is probable that not even this committee would have had the courage to advocate a step so far-reaching. But your wisdom in doing so has been confirmed again and again. And the great contributions which the industry has been able to make and is making to our Nation at war are an enduring memorial to your leadership. For the act has stood the test of experience and has proved its suitability under circumstances which never could have been anticipated when it was drafted. I would like to be able to tell you in detail of the service which, thanks to that action of Congress, this industry has been able to perform during the past year. You are acquainted with many of these services. And the splendid report recently issued by the Select Com mittee to Investigate Air Accidents has surveyed a number of the contributions which this industry has been able to make to the war effort. The members of that Select Committee in their conscientious and patriotic studies have been in an excellent position to appraise many of those contributions. However, for obvious reasons, the full extent of the air-line services to the war effort can, for the present, be known only to a few of those immediately involved. Even our airline managements do not know sometimes. When our pilots land from abroad they make a report to the military intelligence officer and tell him the facts. They cannot even tell the civilian managers, insofar as certain things are concerned. MILITARY SERVICES PERFORMED BY AIR LINES Suffice it to say here that as a result of the careful preparation which the Civil Aeronautics Act made possible, the air transport industry was able at a moment's notice upon the outbreak of war to spring into action and to carry out its role, described by the Secretaries of War and Navy jointly as an adjunct of the national defense. In recognition of that preparation, the Collier Trophy, annually awarded under the auspices of the National Aeronautics Association, was received by the Army Air Forces and the air lines of the United States from Vice President Wallace only the other day, with the citation: "For pioneering world-wide air transportation vital to immediate defense and ultimate victory." Mr. Chairman, if I may, I would like to tell you a few of the things we are doing. These things are more or less known, they have been mentioned in the press, but I am not going to mention any details. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Colonel GORRELL. It might interest you to know that on the day when Pearl Harbor was attacked, there came a request from the Department of Justice to ground the Japanese. By the action we were able to take through our communications system, as well as control of our airplanes, we grounded many of them, and our Government officials were able to "get there" first, instead of their getting back to their safety deposit boxes, and so on. On the Sunday following Pearl Harbor I had a telephone call from the War Department. I hopped into a cab and reached the War Department in a few minutes. The War Department said it wanted certain troops flown to a certain place abroad, a distance of many thousands of miles, without the enemy finding out about it. We were supposed to fly to three points, all of which were vital. In less than 5 minutes after the request was given to us, by lifting the telephone and calling the proper places in our system, our airplanes that we wanted to use were notified during flight and by radio to land. Those airplanes landed at the proper place and discharged their passengers and cargo. We had them at the point of assembly of the troops before the troops had packed their equipment and were ready to go. We flew the troops on those planes nonstop to the borders of our country-so that the enemy spies could not find out where they were going-and then on to their destination. It took less than 5 minutes to select the planes and to order those planes to land. Certain things in the planes were taken out in order to gain more cargo-carrying capacity, mechanics were put on board, together with the necessary tools and equipment which were needed for the flight. The upholstery was covered with sheets, so that the boots would not soil it. Plans for all such movements had been prepared during peace and were ready. In general, the thing clicked. The plans formulated in 1936 and 1937 moved without a hitch. I doubt very much if the enemy knows where those troops are today, and I think that the enemy will be surprised when he comes in contact with them, if he does. Mr. HINSHAW. May I say for the record at this point that it is my information that the gentleman who is now addressing us was largely responsible for the splendid plans worked out by the air lines in connection with the war? He is very modest and has not mentioned it himself. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair can verify that, as a result of long experience. I think no man in the United States, over a long period of years, beginning before World War I, has been more intimately in touch with and has had more to do with the wise planning and execution that has led to the result which we see to which he has just referred in this war. Colonel Gorrell was one of the first airmen who went to Europe in the World War. He was under Colonel Bolling, in honor of whom this field out here in Washington was named. Mr. BOREN. And I understand sat on the peace commission. The CHAIRMAN. He has been actively associated with the matter far beyond what I have indicated in my statement. Colonel GORRELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen. Mr. WOLVERTON. In view of the high standing of Colonel Gorrell in the aviation industry, I am particularly pleased, as a member of this committee, at the compliment he has paid the committee as to the work and character of the legislation that this committee recommended and procured the passage of in 1938. It is very encouraging to receive words of appreciation from one who is so able in his own right to express opinions with reference to aviation. Colonel GORRELL. I thank you, sir. I hope, if I may say so, that the Congress will now act while it has time to anticipate the future. We have had 4 years' trial under the Civil Aeronautics Act, and it is now time to go forward with certain measures, some of which have been considered here in Congress even as far back as 25 years ago. Mr. BOREN. Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Were you through, Colonel? Colonel GORRELL. Yes, sir. Mr. BOREN. With a view to looking to the future, I know that you sat in the peace conference, at the time of the writing of the peace treaty, and that you drew up the first international convention in aviation. I do not know the technical title of the document written at that meeting, in which the first international agreement was arrived at, but I wonder if we could not, with a view to looking forward possibly to future legislation, if we could not have in the record here the things agreed upon in that first covenant. I under |