FINE RESPONSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1939, Page 7

FINE RESPONSE

CALL FOR AIR FORCE ; RECRUITS ? f: S BRITISH STRATEGIC POLICY. ■ - DEFENCE & COUNTER-ATTACK. j (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 9. 1 i 5 Referring to personnel, in his speech • f on the Air Estimates, the Air Minister j ; i (Sir Kingsley Wood) said that he ap-J ; t pealed last June for 31,600 pilots, on-' I j servers, airmen, and boys before the 11 t end of this month. The response had ■' 5 been excellent, and the figure had al- I , ready been passed. The quality of the t recruits was very good and fully i . worthy of 'the high traditions of the ; , R.A.F. He wanted 20,000 more recruits i ' for the R.A.F. during the coming finan- ; , cial year. 1 Recruitment for the R.A.F. volunteer ■ K reserve was also proceeding satisfac- * " torily. Over 2500 were already in train- i 2 ing as pilots. They hoped to form sec- • 2 tions of the reserve in Malaya, Hong ; ' Kong, and East Africa. One thousand ' four hundred members of the Civil I Air Guard were already in possession •' - of A licences, and 3800 more were in - training. \ f Continuing, the Minister said that s on the reserve side an important de- : - velopment had been the new scheme : r for the enlistment of ex-airmen into ; - a special reserve. From July, when the < - scheme was launched, till November \ - last, 2300 men had enlisted, and since i s November the number had been more i 1 than doubled. For the Royal Air Force I - and its various reserves and auxiliars ies, they would want in all some 75,000 more men in the coming year. ' On balloon defence, Sir Kingsley said that a barrage could be operated in the London area if required. Balloon barrage squadrons were being actively organised in other areas, and the entile scheme should be in operation by the end of the year. . In passages devoted to strategical questions, Sir Kingsley Wood was at pains to counter an impression created by critics that by the statement he made last November he had intended to stress the importance of defence at the expense of that of counter-attack. s The Government’s policy was to build 2 up a balanced air force. He did not want there to be any 2 misconception. They had not aban- | s doned reliance on the counter-attack as ■ an essential defence of air strategy. ■ He thought that there had been in the ■ past a tendency to overstate the weakness of defence, and recent develop- - ments had indeed reduced the super- ■ iority of the offensive and increased s the strength of defence, but a power- ( s ful striking force for counter-attack f remained a strong deterrent to attack, s All he had meant by his November a statement on the increase in the fighter . - strength was that a counter-offensive e to be successful, must start from a see cure basis. e n- . n

FIGHTING PLANES I BETTER & FASTER TYPES. WIDE DEMAND FOR BRITISH MACHINES. LONDON, March 10. Sir Kingsley 'Wood, replying in the debate after his speech, said that the Air Ministry receives requests for Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires from all parts of the world. He added that British bombing types were even better and faster types would be coming shortly. The Ministry was satisfied that the present mul-ti-gun fighters are capable of sh’ooting down any type of bomber. NEW AIRCRAFT AS FORMIDABLE AS ANY IN THE WORLD. GREAT INCREASE IN STRENGTH. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 10. The Air Minister, Sir Kingsley Wood, was a guest last night of the Institute of Metals, and, in his speech referred, to the influence on the vital tasks of the Air Ministry of research work encouraged by the institute. Many of the alloys used in modern aircraft, he said, were stronger than mild steel and their weight was approximately one-third that of the same volume of steel. So far as Britain’s new aircraft were concerned, they were as formidable as any in the world and in certain types Britain possessed what he believed to be the best in the world. Production of aircraft was proceeding well, and every week the pace was increasing. “We still have much to do,” said Sir Kingsley, “but we can register today a great increase in our intrinsic strength, and we can safely say that the progress now being made will become comparatively more rapid.” navy estimates INTRODUCTION NEXT WEEK. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. March 9. The Navy estimates will be taken next Wednesday.