“ United States Realty & Improvement Co., 310 U.S. 434, 60 S.Ct. 1044, 84 L.Ed. 1293, held that what constitutes an equitable adjustment is not a question of fact but a question of law. In this view they held that Art. 15 was inapplicable; that the contracting officer having erred in his construction of the contract had thereby breached its terms, and the respondents were entitled to sue for the amount of damage incurred by that breach.
The decisions cited are not authority for the principle that what is fair and equitable is always a question of law. Quite the contrary. ”

“ We held that, in this connection, the phrase 'fair and equitable' had become a term of art, that Congress used it in the sense in which it had been used by the courts in reorganization cases, and that whether a plan met the test of fairness and equity long established by judicial decision was not a question to be answered by the creditors and stockholders but by the court as a matter of law. ”

“ An 'equitable adjustment' of the respondent's additional payment for extra work involved merely the ascertainment of the cost of digging, moving, and placing earth, and the addition to that cost of a reasonable and customary allowance for profit. These were inquiries of fact. If the contracting officer erroneously answered them, Article 15 of the contract provided the only avenue for relief. ”