AIR PATROL OPERATIONS (Continued)
 
 
           8 Navy planes and 7 Army planes are on patrol every
 day as shown on attached track chart. The Army states that
 not less than 70 planes of the B-17 or PBY types are needed
 to maintain an effective patrol..During the next 6 months
 the Army is scheduled to receive at Panama an additional
 29 such planes and the Navy 12.
 
         The Army hopes to have additional heavy bombers to
 use as a striking force and for training purposes. The
 Navy is seeking large landplanes to use in lieu of flying
boats. There is no doubt of the superiority of the B-17 type
over the PBY type and it would seem logical to provide the
Naval aviators with some landplanes so that the best planes
 could be utilized by the men best trained to operate over the
 ocean.
 
MOTOR TORPEDO BOATS -- There is one squadron of motor torpedo boats
 now based in the Perlas Islands. When this squadron's tender,
 the USS NIAGARA, arrives this month the squadron will be moved
 out to the Galapagos. Additional squadrons with tenders are
 expected during the next few months and will be stationed at
 Cocos, Salinas, and the Gulf of Fonseca.
 
        These squadrons will constitute a powerfully effective
 and speedy striking force on the Panama Sea Frontier for use
 particularly against enemy carriers at night.
 
                                          
                                              Respectfully
                                              Paul F. Foster,
                                             Commander, USNR.
  
                                                     -5-