IF SPEED and fire power are the keys to victory in the air - and military authorities agree that they are - the United States is being equipped to deal with any emergency involving the use of aircraft. Already fighting planes for the Army and the Navy are coming off the production line with ratings of “more than 400 miles per hour” and aviation circles whisper of a mystery warbird with the long-dreamed-of speed of 500 miles an hour. Even the big bombing planes, designed primarily for load-carrying and long-range work, are being stepped up above 300 miles per hour. One type, which went into production recently, is said to be faster than most pursuit planes being used in the European struggle. Lessons learned from air battles over the war zone are being incorporated into the American warplane, with the result that newer types not only are fast but have awe-inspiring firing power. Instead of the 20-millimeter cannon on British and German planes, two or more of Uncle Sam’s fighting ships are fitted with 37-millimeter cannon, in addition to .50 and 30-caliber machine guns, giving them such striking force that engineers claim no plane ever built could withstand their full fire. And there is hushed talk that even more powerful weapons may be installed in improved models of our latest planes. Indeed, one type now in production could be fitted with one 37-millimeter cannon to fire through the propeller hub, four 20-millimeter cannon in the wings and two .50-caliber machine guns atop the fuselage, just in front of the pilot. The 37-millimeter cannon is the most powerful gun ever mounted as standard equipment in warplanes. Its big shell, many times the size of a 30-caliber bullet, can crash through the thickest armor ever employed on military aircraft; in fact, it could knock out most tanks in a low-altitude strafing. With the gun mounted in the nose, or the hollow propeller shaft, of his ship, the pilot aims by training his whole plane on the target. Firing tests have been marked by amazing accuracy. In the rush to develop fighting planes for defense against bombing planes, the striking power of our own bombers has not been forgotten. Improved types of the “flying fortress” can carry several tons of bombs and have a cruising range of 3,000 to 4,000 miles. Smaller bombing planes carry 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of boribs, have a range of 1,000 miles and are armed for defense with a battery of machine guns. One type, with still less range and bomb capacity, is faster than any bomber in the air, except a few equipped with turbosuperchargers to give more speed at altitudes above the 15,000-foot level at which this ship performs best. Biggest of all the bombers is the 80-ton Douglas B-19, which has far greater range and bomb capacity than any military aircraft ever built. Its principal purpose, however, is to serve as a model for tomorrow’s bombing plane, as its speed is not considered sufficient for actual warfare. In its role of “laboratory on wings” for the Army Air Forces, the B-19 is a mass of superlatives; for instance, it has been fit recently with the largest deicers ever built. Weighing pounds and totaling 287 feet in length, these overshoes for pre- venting formation of ice contain enough rubber to provide deicing protection for 14 pursuit planes and they have six times the area of those used on 21-passenger commercial transport planes. The de-icing system is operated automatically. Among the fastest Army and Navy fighting aircraft in use today are the Lockheed Lightning, or P-38, the Bell Airacobra, or P-39, the Curtiss P-40 and the VW six to seven m’gg a minute. The Locl is guished by twin booms which replace the customary fuselage. It is powered by two liquid-cooled Allison engines, each of 1,150 horsepower. The pilot-gunner rides in a bulletlike nacelle between the booms. Canpion and machine guns are mounted in the nose of the nacelle. Turbo-superchargers maintain constant power for operations at 35,000 feet - nearly seven miles above the earth. The P-38's/three-blade propellers rotate in opposite directions. Uncle Sam’s rapidly expanding air forces are equipped with many Curtiss P-40 fighters and improved models of that ship. The later planes have more horsepower, firepower and speed than the P-40, which has been free-dived - falling with motor idling - at a record rate of 661 miles per hour - a mile every 5.45 seconds. Curtiss has produced a possible successor to the P-40 - the XP-46 – which is believed to have a top speed of well above 400 miles per hour, Bell's Airacobra literally is a flying arsenal, boasting a cannon and six machine guns, all of which may be fired by the pilot-gunner pressing a single trigger. The gun or guns to be fired are controlled by electrical switches. Although heavily armored with steel and bulletproof glass, the Airacobra can climb vertically at a mile-a-minute clip. Like the Lockheed and the P-40 series, it is powered by the Allison liquid-cooled engine, which is mounted behind the pilot and connected to the propeller by a long shaft. The ’Cobra has been dived at 620 miles per hour. Pride of the Navy is the Vought-Sikorsky fighter, fastest in the service. A single-engine ship, it has a cruising range of 1,000 miles and can operate efficiently at 30,000 feet. Its fire power compares favorably with that of the Army’s fighters. Another much-talked-about Navy plane is the Curtiss scout bomber SB2C-1, on which large-scale production is about to begin. Compared to previous planes of the same type, it is 100 miles per hour faster, carries twice as many heavy bombs - all transported inside the fuselage - has 600 miles greater range, stays in the air 4 1/4 hours longer and has twice as much armament, giving a fire power greater than any other single-engine naval plane. After the Navy’s airmen saw this dive bomber go through its paces, they signed on the dotted line for an initial order totaling $50,000,000. Latest of Boeing’s “flying fortress” bombing planes is the B-17E, powered by four mighty éngines that give it a range of more than 3,500 miles and a ceiling of about 36,000 feet. Capable of lifting several tons of bombs across the American continent and halfway back, it is manned by seven to nine men. Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Corporation and Vega Airplane Company have pooled production facilities to turn out flying fortresses in large numbers. The bombing planes will be identical, even to the point of interchangeability of parts. Several gther manufacturers are contributing to the program through subcontracts. Consolidated’s version of the heavy bomber is a four-engine warplane with a 3,000-mile range and a bomb capacity of 8,000 pounds. Its top speed is above 300 miles per hour. Better known is the Consolidated patrol bomber, due to a ship of this type having played a leading role in the successful hunt for and subsequent destruction of the German battleship Bismarck. In British sea patrol work, this ship has a crew of ten men - three pilots, an observer, radio operator, radio mechanic, flight engineer, flight mechanic, gunner and flight rigger. The pilots share the responsibilities of navigation with the observer. There is accommodation for four men on canvas bunks in the cabin and during an around-the-clock patrol, hot meals may be prepared on a small stove. Always the men on duty in the pilot’s cockpit or in the transparent “blister” amidships scan the seas for enemy submarines. At the first sign of a telltale plume of water from a periscope, the pilot dives and releases powerful depth bombs, while the radio flashes the submarine’s location to warships and merchant ships. Two of the outstanding medium bombers used by the Army are the Martin B-26 and the North American B-25, both fast and capable of carrying 3,000 to 14,000 pounds of bombs. The Martin is heavily armed with machine guns and has leak-proof fuel tanks and armored cockpits. Martin also is producing its “187” bomber for the British. The 187 is driven by two 1850-horse-power air-cooled engines. North American’s B-25 has two 1,700-horsepower engines, tricycle landing gear and calls for a crew of five. The American counterpart of the DB-Ts which have been extremely active in the British Royal Air Force recently under the names of “Boston” and “Havoc,” is Douglas’ A-20 attack bomber. The A-20 is said to be materially faster than the DB-7, which is reported to be faster than the German Messerschmitt 110 pursuit. Soon to emerge from the Glenn L. Martin plant will be a 140,000-pound battleship of the air, the largest flying boat in the world, which the Navy will use. Powered by four 2,000-horsepower Cyclone engines, it will have a top speed of about 200 miles per hour, a cruising speed of 150 and a fuel capacity sufficient for a flight across the Atlantic and return. Gun turrets protrude from the hull at a dozen places and the flying boat will carry both bombs and torpedoes. The flying battleship is intended for high altitude operations, being designed to stay far above the effective range of antiaircraft fire. It is an experimental ship, the Navy depending for the present upon the Consolidate patrol bombers – both twin and four-motored - and the Martin bi-motored planes. Dive bombing is recognized by the Army Air Forces as one of the important phases of aerial warfare and organization of six squadrons of the American version of the German Stukas has been completed recently. Initial deliveries of a new dive bomber - the Douglas A-24 - have been made to the Army to equip this force, which would operate in actual warfare in connection with armored divisions. The plane is a two-place, single-motor ship which will out-perform dive bombers now used by other nations. It is designed to be highly effective against moving targets, especially when defenses are not thoroughly organized. A new-type, long range Brewster dive bomber being developed for the Navy is said to be 100 miles an hour faster than the German Stuka. Designed for operation from aircraft carriers, it is a large, all-metal, mid-wing monoplane and is manned by a pilot and a gunner. It carries a 1,000 pound bomb entirely enclosed within its fuselage, a feature that results in more speed because air drag is reduced. The plane, which has been subjected to extensive flight testing, is powered by a Wright double-row Cyclone motor rated at 1,700 horsepower Research work by aviation and military engineers has been in progress for several months on the subject of high-altitude combat and bombing operations. Almost daily dispatches from Europe have indicated that zones of air action are moving upward, with fighting at 25,000 feet and higher. Greater heights are expected to become common as specially equipped types of aircraft come into wider service. In this research, the Boeing flying fortress, which has turbo-superchargers enabling it to operate efficiently at high altitudes, has been employed to take groups of engineers to the threshold of the stratosphere - 35,000 feet - where the air is so thin a man will become unconscious in less than a minute without an artificial air supply. On these flights, the engineers, as well as members of the crew, breathe oxygen after having reduced the nitrogen content of the blood by breathing pure oxygen and exercising mildly for 30 minutes before taking off. At high altitudes nitrogen expands into tiny bubbles and produces a painful effect similar to a diver’s “bends.” A test chamber on the ground simulates conditions of the upper air and permits the airmen to practice every step of a proposed flight. Just how fast are the Army and Navy going to get the latest types of warplanes? That is entirely dependent upon the number that the United States government considers necessary to release to England. Present plans call for delivery of between 40,000 and 50,000 planes of all types to this country’s armed forces by the end of 1942. Aviation manufacturers agree that the job can be done and some predict its completion ahead of schedule.