EMPIRE AIR FORCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1939, Page 7

EMPIRE AIR FORCE

SOUTH AFRICA’S SEPARATE ACTION J ON ACCOUNT OF STRATEGIC POSITION. PREPARATIONS ON LARGE SCALE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 10.0 a.m.) CAPE TOWN, October 11, The Prime Minister's Department explains that the Union is not participating in the Empire air training scheme because the strategical position of South Africa makes it advisable for the Air Force personnel to be kept in South Africa to receive their full training there, which will be as efficient as • possible and on as large a scale as J resources permit. TRAINING PLANS i - — 1 SCHOOLING ON CANADIAN PRAIRIES. I VAST NEW WEIGHT THROWN INTO SCALE. OTTAWA, October 11. It is expected that the Australian and New Zealand airmen, under the scheme for expansion of the air forces of the Dominions, will train with the I West Canadians at new schools in Western Canada. The prairie provinces offer ideal conditions. East Canadians and Englishmen will be centred at Trenton and Campborden, near Toronto, and new schools in Ontario. It is believed that If the arms embargo is lifted the bulk of the equipment will be purchased from the United States. ' The significance of the agreement by the Dominions can hardly be exaggerated, says “The Times,” commenting on the plans for accelerating the training of Empire pilots. “Here is Imperial co-operation on a high scale,” says “The Times,” according to a radio report. “No action of the enemy can prevent the forces of the Empire from gaining overwhelmingly in strength.” The paper adds that whatever damage the enemy may inflict, he will still have to contend with this inexhaustible source of skilled reserves who are beyond all the means of the enemy to injure them. Thus a vast new weight has been thrown on the side of the Allies into the already even balance of air power.