The big headlines of the day in today's Observer aren't about warfighting at all, whether it's overhead or overseas. Perhaps this is because of the 'lull in the air battle yesterday' (7), or maybe reporting raid after air-raid is getting monotonous. But as with the last time this happened, the news is that the United States is sending more aid to Britain. Or at least it is promising 'a very rapid stepping up, in the very near future' of aircraft deliveries to Britain, currently running at 200 machines a month. This is due to 'the complete recovery of American faith in British chances against Nazi Germany':
For instance, the British are now being "cut in" on future production of the huge Flying Fortress type of American bomber. The showing made by the much-praised R.A.F. furnishes the grounds for this step adopted by the army authorities
Hitherto these authorities, recalling how American planes destined for France had fallen by the hundreds into Nazi hands, were reluctant to make any concession. Moreover, it is now felt that Britain's stern resistance is giving the United States the needed time to perfect its own defences.
But a separate article on this page reports from Burbank, California that 'The new twin-engined Lockheed P-38 interceptor plane' has been undergoing flight tests. It is expected to be capable of '500 miles an hour' (with a rate of climb of 4000 feet per minute), but Britain will not be able to order it. Instead it is getting a down-rated export variant which can only do 'over 400 miles an hour'. So American support for Britain is not quite unqualified.
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