AIR TRANSPORT OF TROOPS
Readiness To Move Army With the speed of aircraft today and the efficiency of the Royal Air Force it was possible for Britain to retain the majority of its army in Britain, said Air Marshal Sir Andrew McKee, addressing the pupils of the Christchurch Boys’ High School at assembly yesterday. “It is my job as Chief of Transport Command to take the army to any place in the world,” he said. “I have to be ready to move the army to any trouble spot at a moment’s notice.”
Sir Andrew McKee said that all the newspaper talk of pushbutton warfare today and of pilotless aircraft was sheer nonsense. “The fighter aircraft as we know it today will gradually disappear but there will still be manned fighter aircraft for many years to come.” Sir Andrew McKee advised the boys to make the most of their education, with particular emphasis on science. Success today depended on a high standard of technical training, he said. Only Jet Transport
“The Comet is the only jet transport aircraft flying in the world today,’’ he said. “The history of the Comet I was one of the tragedies of the air but investigations into its defects provided valuable information that has been utilised in subsequent models. We are now going ahead with the Comet IV which will have ram jets in the tail instead of in the wings.” He was wondering if persons had adjusted their minds and their economics to the jet age, he said. “I can be rung at night and told that I have to leave England at 5 o’clock in the morning—at that time I step into my Comet and by 12.30 p.m. I am in Aden, 4000 miles away. It makes you think.”
Air Marshal McKee took the salute at a march-past of the school cadet battalion led by its commander (Lieutenant-Colonel W. Moffat) and Major J. J. D. Sinclair. On the dais with Sir Andrew McKee were the headmaster (Mr J. Leggat) and Squadron-leader H. King, Air Marshal McKee’s staff officer.
Mr Leggat, another master and five boys from the school will be passengers in the Comet on -its flight to the West Coast today.
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Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28270, 7 May 1957, Page 17
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368AIR TRANSPORT OF TROOPS Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28270, 7 May 1957, Page 17
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