The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
finally been authorized, but it was only after funds had been made
available in 1939 that construction had begun on a cold-weather
experimental station at Fairbanks and a major operational base at
Anchorage. Commercial aviation, already an accepted part of Alaskan
life, provided some facilities, and the CAA now inaugurated an exten-
sive development program which included the preparation of emer-
gency landing fields and other aids to air defense. Under guidance of
the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, arrangements were made to
establish air route staging facilities in Canada which would tighten the
air link between the United States and Alaska. And, as elsewhere,
protection of Alaska called for more advanced outposts. Responsible
for air defense of the naval base a t Dutch Harbor on Unalaska, the Air
Corps instigated preparation of airfields leading to Umnak, farther out
in the Aleutians.’‘ Those fields, like the island strips in the Central
Pacific, were to prove their worth in the early months of the war.
That in general was true of the whole system of extended defenses,
though only in the Philippines, Hawaii, and Alaska was the system
tested by air attacks. Preparations for defense were incomplete, but
in 1942 the security afforded by the defensive measures begun during
the period 1939-41,and rushed to completion after Pearl Harbor, was
to allow the United States to turn most of its efforts to preparation for
the offensive. In turn, our ability to rearm and to establish new defense
lines without interruption from our potential enemies had been made
possible by the efforts of nations actually a t war with the Axis powers.
Hence, support lent to those nations may also be considered a very
real part of our preparations for war.
Aid to the Allies
When war began in Europe in September 1939, the majority of
American citizens shared two sentiments: a sympathy with the allied
cause against Germany and a strong desire to stay out of the conflict.
These sentiments were expressed by President Roosevelt in a radio
address on 3 September: “This Nation will remain a neutral nation,
but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as
well.” 8 2 American attitudes, if they were correctly interpreted by
public opinion polls, tended to shift in emphasis with the progress of
events abroad during the period from Munich to Dunkirk, though
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