we are going to lose a good many planes because they have reached the retirement age. In other words, they will be beyond the stage of safe operation. For example, there is one item there of 25 PBY's that will go out. They will be stricken in 1951. At that time they will have run their useful life, and will not longer be safe for operation. Mr. GARY. You have 112 planes on hand today; is that correct? Commander ARRINGTON. I think that is the figure. Mr. GARY. You have 79 in operation. of those have already been written off? Does that mean that a part Commander ARRINGTON. No, sir. The others are what we call operational spares. In other words, for every so many planes that are available to go at a moment's notice there are a couple of others that are in a state of overhaul. We keep revolving them from a state of overhaul to a state of operation. So we can keep 79 planes ready. We actually do not have these 112 planes available for operation; 33 will be in an overhaul status. Mr. GARY. I think at this point in the record it would be a good idea to insert the table headed "Status of Aircraft." (The document referred to is as follows:) Commander ARRINGTON. Also, Mr. Chairman, considering the additional planes and what will be left on hand, we have projected the replacement schedule. This table gives a pretty good picture of what our future in aircraft replacements will be. That includes, of course, the additional planes. Mr. GARY. We will keep that table for the benefit of the committee. It is not necessary to put it in the record. AREAS IN WHICH NEW PLANES WILL BE USED Mr. GARY. What is the proposed use of these new planes that you request? Captain RICHMOND. I think that Captain Burke can answer that better than anyone here. Captain BURKE. We propose to use them in the normal work of the Coast Guard, law enforcement, in search and rescue work, aiding those in distress, locating broken-down vessels and lost yachts, carrying medical supplies to isolated persons, and rescuing people in distress. Mr. GARY. You stated that half of them, I believe, would be necessary to take over areas that the Army and Navy have abandoned. Is that correct? Captain BURKE. Yes, sir; that is our present plan. Mr. GARY. What would the other half be used for? Captain BURKE. They would be used to augment facilities we feel we are shorthanded in to do our normal Coast Guard work. For instance, if I might point out one area, in the eighth Coast Guard district, which comprises the area of Texas, from Mexico to the Apalachicola River in Florida, we have only one airplane on duty there. That is entirely inadequate to take care of that vast expanse. We propose to put two or three more down there. Probably two of them will be over in the Texas seacoast area, and two of them back over in the New Orleans or Alabama area. Mr. GARY. Do you mean that you have only one in operation there now? Captain BURKE. That is right, sir. About 50 percent of the time it is out of commission due to repairs. Mr. GARY. Do you not have spare operational planes down there? Captain BURKE. No, sir. We have to call on some other station to send one in there when it is out of commission. We are undermanned, in our own opinion, to carry out our normal duties in the States. We do not have sufficient aircraft to do all the jobs we are called on to do. CHAPEL PROJECT AT COAST GUARD ACADEMY, NEW LONDON, CONN. Mr. CANFIELD. Admiral, the chairman of this committee has expressed many times an interest in the chapel project up at New London. I know that other members of the committee are interested also. Certainly I am interested in the project. Will you be good enough to tell us the picture in terms of the present? Admiral O'NEILL. I would like to ask Captain Richmond to answer that question, inasmuch as he has been working on the chapel project and is a member of the board to select the site of the building, which would come into the answer to your question. Mr. CANFIELD. All right, Captain Richmond. Captain RICHMOND. With respect to the chapel, as you probably know, the Board of Visitors has on a number of occasions recommended the erection of a chapel suitable to the Academy, on the Academy grounds, or in the vicinity. During the war, of course, there was no permanent construction. Following the war, it was not practicable for the Coast Guard to present a request for funds for the chapel to this committee, because the money for acquisition was very much restricted and we had to use that for facilities needed for operation. Two years ago the Board of Visitors again brought up the question, and Judge Bland introduced a bill which would permit the Coast Guard to solicit contributions for a memorial chapel, to be built at the Academy. It was introduced in, I think, the last term of the Seventy-ninth Congress. But in the Eightieth Congress, another bill was introduced by Mr. Seeley-Brown, of Connecticut. The first bill was withdrawn. That second bill became law, and authorized the Coast Guard to solicit contributions. Accordingly, a little over a year ago we started a program of getting contributions from friends of the Coast Guard for a chapel at the Academy. That program was successfully completed. CONTRIBUTIONS I say successfully because a total of approximately $470,000 was raised by contributions. We had hoped to end the campaign slightly after August 4, but at the time there were still some contributions coming in. As I say, approximately $470,000 was acquired for that purpose. Once the money was assured, we took steps to go ahead with the construction of the chapel. We felt that in a building of this nature, that it should not be left to, we might say, a normal service architect, to design the chapel. This was something that required a specialist in the field. We appealed to the supervising architect. He was most cooperative in rendering all the assistance possible, and he felt that it was not something that the public buildings should do. He suggested a number of leading architects in the country. Of course, we had in mind, not the most expensive, but one that we could be assured would give us a chapel in keeping with the spirit of the Academy grounds and something that would be a really nice memorial chapel. We have been very fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr. Douglas Orr, whose offices are in New Haven. There is another advantage in the fact that he is relatively close to the site of the chapel. He is now proceeding with the development of the plans and specifications for the chapel. SITE OF CHAPEL He feels that a chapel can be built on the Academy grounds within the limits of the funds that have been raised by contribution. So far we have not done much beyond deciding definitely where the chapel should be located. There was some question as to whether or not we should acquire land outside of the Academy grounds. However, about 2 months ago, a committee, of which Mr. Orr was a member, met in New London, and we decided that it would be a mistake to locate the chapel off of the grounds. We decided it would be desirable, if we could obtain a small piece of land from the city of New London, which is adjacent to the Academy grounds, that it would be desirable to do so. This was more in the interest of providing a little space to the rear of the chapel rather than to have the chapel located on it. So to date, representations have been made to the city of New London, and the indications are that they will donate this small area of land. We hope by spring, that by the time winter is over in New England, we will be far enough along to let the construction contracts for the chapel. Those of you who have been at the Academy will recognize the site selected. It will be located up on the highest point of the Academy grounds, in the general vicinity of the officers' quarters, and oriented in keeping with the other buildings. It will be of the same general type of construction as the other buildings at the Academy. Mr. CANFIELD. In other words, then, there has been raised sufficient funds for the construction of the building; is that correct? Captain RICHMOND. We believe so; for the complete job. Mr. CANFIELD. Of course, they do not embrace installation of any fixtures, I suppose, or things of that sort; is that right? Captain RICHMOND. No. Of course, that is a little confused, for this reason: Some of our donations have been in the form of special fixtures. For example, the Theater Owners of America is donating the organ. If a suitable organ can be found, they will donate it. This week Mr. Orr and somebody else is going to look at a particular organ in Schenectady to see if it can be fitted into the chapel. There have been a number of special gifts like that that can fit in. Mr. Orr's feeling now is that we will have sufficient funds to complete the chapel with all of its equipment. Mr. CANFIELD. Are the names of the donors and their gifts going to be publicized? Captain RICHMOND. In some sort of a booklet? Is that what you have reference to? Mr. CANFIELD. In any way. Captain RICHMOND. As far as I know, there have been no plans to publicize it. Most of the donations, or a lot of the donations, have been in the form that the donors preferred not to have them publicized. In fact, one large gift, I think, they prefer not to have. PROPOSED DATE OF (O ¡PLETION OF CHAPEL Mr. CANFIELD. You say that the plans may be ready this coming spring and that the project will be undertaken soon thereafter. That being so, when do you anticipate the project will be actually consummated? Captain RICHMOND. I should say that probably the chapel ought to be well along by the opening of the Academy in the fall-that is, next fall. Mr. GARY. Captain, I think the Coast Guard should be congratulated on its effort in raising the funds for this chapel. The chairman of the committee has been very much interested in the project and felt that possibly it might be accelerated by Government contribution. But I think it speaks well for the Coast Guard that they have taken the initiative and raised sufficient money to build this chapel at the Coast Guard Academy. The spiritual life of the students at the Academy is very important, and I, for one, certainly want to pay tribute to the Coast Guard for the progress it has made on this project. Mr. CANFIELD. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman, but I want to say this: I was very sorry to hear from Captain Burke here today. The last time I saw him was in the Coast Guard offices in New York City, where he had the largest map I have ever seen. And I was quite intrigued to have him point out to me on that map the exact position of all major shipping in the Atlantic Ocean. That is an activity we do not know too much about. May I ask, Admiral, if you follow out that course with reference to Pacific shipping also? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. Mr. CANFIELD. And the office is where? Admiral O'NEILL. That is in San Francisco. Of course, in each district there is an operations office, with a plot board. But in the third district, which is the one where Captain Burke was stationed at the time you mentioned, they have the eastern area headquarters, and they maintain the plot broad of the entire Atlantic Ocean. That is probably the one that you saw. And the same is done on the west coast. Mr. CANFIELD. And when contact is lost with a ship for an appreciable time, efforts are made through various sources to locate it and make sure that everything is all right? Captain BURKE. It is used also in connection with search and rescue for these trans-Atlantic aircraft. If we receive a distress message or a message that they are in trouble, we can look at that plot board and if, say, the Queen Mary, is 95 miles east of him, we can issue instructions that "If you are going to have to ditch with your passengers in that cold water, we suggest that you turn and meet the Queen Mary, which is 95 miles east of you." And in the meantime, through our radio stations, we will alert the Queen Mary and all the rest of the ships in that vicinity. Mr. CANFIELD. I know the chairman has in mind taking the subcommittee to New York in the very near future, and we do not want to pass you by. Captain BURKE. Yes; that would be a very interesting tour. |