PLANES FOR DEFENCE!

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 March 1939, Page 5

PLANES FOR DEFENCE!

GREAT PRODUCTION SCHEME IN AUSTRALIA I THOUSAND MACHINES A YEAR IN WAR TIME. VISIT OF BRITISH MISSION. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. MELBOURNE, March 5. ■ Plans for a vast expansion of the 1 Australian aircraft industry at an ad- ■ ditional cost of several million pounds ; will be submitted to the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom Governments when the British Air Mission which is now in Australia completes its report in about six weeks. Though the precise rate of output planned under the expansion programme will probably be regarded as ; confidential for defence purposes, it may be assumed that the rate will be more than 1000 planes a year in time of ■ war. To enable this war time rate of production to be achieved, a minimum ‘ peace time output of from 200 to 400 planes will be necessary. It is understood, according to the Defence correspondent of the Melbourne “Argus” that a suitable type of military aircraft has already been selected to the satisfaction of both the British and Commonwealth Governments. It will be one of the very latest types produced in England. In fact, no machine of the type has yet been delivered to the British Air Force. HEAVY EXPENDITURE. This type will probably be of the multi-purpose, twin-engine, high speed, long-distance design, which would be extremely suitable to the defence plans of Australia. Each plane will probably cost about £30,000 complete. On this basis the output in Australia in normal peace time would be worth from £9,000,000 to £12,000,000 a year, and in time o? war £30,000,000 a year. The British Air Mission, which is headed by Sir Hardman Lever, who led a similar mission to Canada last year, has already indicated that the British Government, as its contribution to assist the plan, will give the Commonwealth a definite order for the delivery of large numbers of these Australianmade planes to British possessions east of Suez. The immediate demand by Australia appears to be about 40 planes of this type, representing an expenditure of about £1,200,000, this being the number of long-distance reconnaissance bombers which the Royal Australian Air Force is needing to replace obsolete machines and those lost in air accidents. If Australia, however, is to possess a strong defence system, the ability to produce greater numbers, and perhaps carry a stronger force than that which is now contemplated, may be necessary. EARLY PRODUCTION DESIRED. The balance of the output, so as to put the plan into operation, wijl be purchased by the British Government for delivery to strategic air bases at Aden, Ceylon, India, Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong, Fiji, and other centres. Orders may also be received from South Africa and New Zealand for machines of this type. The British Government is extremely anxious that production should begin at the earliest possible moment. With this end in view, the British Air Mission, before leaving London, took steps to facilitate rapid implementation of xhe scheme, so that the moment the final decision is made by the two Governments there will be no delay in putting the plan into operation. There are good grounds for believing that the programme can be accelerated to enable the first machine to be ready to take the air within a year. This action of the British Government is an indication of its sincere desire to aid Australia, and other parts of the Empire, and it shows the urgency and positiveness with which the plan is viewed in London. WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF WORK. Guided by lessons learned in Great Britain, the Mission, it is believed, proposes .that the manufacture of the machines should be undertaken, not under one roof as is done in the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’s factory in Melbourne, but by hundreds of existing privately-owned workshops in different parts of the Commonwealth, principally in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. To these workshops contracts will be given for the manufacture and delivery of the various aircraft components. The machine which will be built under the new programme will be of all-metal construction, and every part of it, engine included, will be manufactured in Australia. A characteristic which will be of great importance to Australia’s defence is that it will have a long range, and will probably carry Australian guns-manufactured at Lithgow. • v. The long-range economic benefits that would accrue from the project are incalculable. It is estimated that it will increase Australia’s wages bill by from £7,000,000 to £10,000,000 in peace time, labour representing at least 80 per cent of the total manufacturing costs in aircraft production. The industrial stimulus, moreover, will be distributed over a very wide field, embracing not only the mining and metallurgical industries, but a vast numbei of small mdtal-working factories, some of which at present employ only a few hands. _____________