[ARC5] Lend Lease

[Robert Eleazer]

I just looked up Lend Lease in the massive book "The Oxford Companion to WWII" - a book I bought mainly because it provided some info on radio and radar frequencies I had not seen before (just wish they had consulted with David). And what I found surprised me.

Lend Lease did not have to be paid back. Getting paid back was at the discretion of the President.

Approximate values of Lend Lease goods:

Great Britain: $24B
France: $3.5B
China: $2B
USSR: $10B 

There was also reverse Lend Lease in which equipment, raw materials, and technology went from the British and French empires to the U.S.: $8B. 
For example, the USAAF flew some Spitfires, Mosquitoes, Beaufighters, and miscellaneous other aircraft and of course the British helped with radio and radar designs and showed us how to make what became the 5 inch HVAR and the Merlin aircraft engine, among others.

Rather than getting paid back in money, the U.S. had the U.K. agree certain international policy concessions. 

A law passed in 1945 required the USSR to pay for its Lend Lease and in June 1990 they agreed to do so and an amount was negotiated.

So of all of ur Allies, only the USSR paid us back. 
Also note that prior to the start of Lend Lease in 1941, the British and French ordered and paid for quite a number of aircraft from the U.S. And the British were given 50 WWI vintage destroyers in return for leases on British bases in the Western Hemisphere, examples being Bermuda (which I think we are out of now) and Ascension Island (where we still run and maintain the airfield). 

Wayne