CIVIL AVIATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 April 1940, Page 5

CIVIL AVIATION

DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH SERVICES SUBJECT TO MILITARY NEEDS. LINKING UP NEW ZEALAND. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. April 1. The Secretary for Air. Sir Kingsley Wood, today received representatives of the civil aviation section of the London Chamber of Commerce. A memorandum was submitted dealing with a number of points, including the supply of civil transport aircraft, the development of new services both during and after the war, the provision of the necessary personnel, and longrange planning of civil air routes. The deputation drew attention to the importance of maintaining civil air transport services in time of war, to continuation of research work on the air liners of the future and. in view of the activity of other nations, to the necessity for taking a long view in order that when the war is ended British civil aviation might not find itself hopelessly out-distanced. Replying to the deputation, Sir Kingsley Wood said that the policy of the Air Ministry was to support and encourage civil aviation within the limitations which necessarily had been imposed by the war. The Empire services had been carried on without interruption, and New Zealand would this month be linked up with the Empire air routes by a weekly service. The flying-boat services to South Africa would also resume this week their pre-war frequency. Political difficulies which so far had prevented a regular service to Lisbon (Portugal) were on the point of being overcome. A number of experimental flights would be carried out this month, and there was every hope that a regular service would be started in May. The Air Ministry had very much at heart the establishment of trans-Atlan-tic services, but, though fully alive to the desirability on commercial and other grounds of a service to South America, it felt that the North Atlantic service must have priority.

WAR NEEDS PLACED FIRST. The Air Minister said he fully recognised the value of suggestions which had been made by the civil aviation section of the London Chamber of Commerce in July last, but the war had intervened and only those who had full knowledge of the situation and responsibility for defence were in. a position to assess authoritatively the needs and claims of civil and military aviation. There had been no option at the beginning of the war, but to stop the development work on new large civil aircraft designs. The firms concerned wore engaged on large military orders, and it was not possible at the present time to divert designers and draughtsmen to prepare designs, details and working drawings for purely civil types. The needs of civil aviation were, however, being borne constantly in mind in connection with the military requirements. Instructions had been given to the firms engaged on the design and production of large service types to keep constantly before them the possibility of civil variants of the military type, and. if possible, to allocate a design staff for this purpose who would keep in touch with the British Overseas Airways Corporation. PLANNING FOR FUTURE. It was with these ends in view that it was proposed to establish a strong civil aviation advisory committee which would plan for the future. The object of the committee and of a small body of experts that would be associated with it was to ensure that, with the advent of peace, the aircraft industry would be able to turn over with all its skill and energy to the development and production of civil aircraft and that civil aviation would be able to undertake a rapid and confident expansion. In sum the answer to the question of what could be done for civil aviation under the war conditions lay partly in the maintenance and extension where possible of the existing line services, partly in steps which weie being taken to prepare the way for civil editions of military types of aircraft and partly in the appointment of the civil aviation advisory committee with its express responsibility for keeping in touch with technical development and research and for planning ahead.