AIR FORCE TRAINING CASUALTIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 24, 4 March 1942, Page 4

AIR FORCE TRAINING CASUALTIES

NOW that Whakatane has felt the loss of an air trainee, whose life was lost during preparatory training course, the question upon everybody's lips is—why the growing number or fatalities? There appears to be a particularly heavy tell of life among the young men who enter the R.N.Z.A.F. a,ni who carry out their initial training in this country. Thi figures if published for the war period would probably bi alarming. Whilst we have no intention of emphasising this unfortunate aspect of the Dominion's military effort, we feel nevertheless that the whole system is worth/ of the closest examination. Is there a wea,kness in our methods, that so many fatalities occur, or are the losses suffered commensurate with the number under training, f( r under sll circumstances, we understand there is always a recognised percentage of accidents. It is a, pity the pubile is not better on the subject, for the men involved represent the finest types the Dominion is capable of producing. If there is anything approaching wilful neglect or carelessness on the part of mechanical control or weakness in the matter of supervision, then there is room for th 2 fullest enquiry and investigation. In view of what we have suffered, already, the authorities should know without the force of any public spur that the position already demands more than passing attention.