President Roosevelt has asked Congress for $1 billion to modernize the military and has plans to produce 50,000 airplanes a year.

“We have had the lesson before us over and over again””nations that were not ready and were unable to get ready found themselves overrun by the enemy. So-called impregnable fortifications no longer exist. A defense which allows an enemy to consolidate his approach without hindrance will lose. A defense which makes no effective effort to destroy the lines of supplies and communications of the enemy will lose.”

Source: Roosevelt , Franklin D. “President Franklin D. Roosevelt Address before a Joint Session of the Senate and House of Representatives Asking for Additional Appropriations for National Defense. .” Air Force Magazine , 16 May 1940, pp. 1”“6. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/2009/June%202009/0609keeperfull.pdf

In 1939, the Air Corps had just 1,200 outdated bombers and fighters. After Germany’s rapid blitzkrieg into Holland, Belgium, and France in early 1940, President Roosevelt delivered a stirring speech, calling for 50,000 airplanes and the production of 50,000 more annually. These numbers weren’t meant to be taken literally; they symbolized the need for a significant national effort.

Source: “FDR”™s Fifty Thousand Airplanes.” Air & Space Forces Magazine, 1 June 2009, www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0609keeperfile/.