BRITAIN’S AIR DEFENCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 2

BRITAIN’S AIR DEFENCE

NEED FOR MORE PLANES

Members of the Liberal and Labour parties are critical of the Government’s plan to build a fleet of 100 fast interceptor fighting ’planes in the event of the failure of tlie Disarmament Conference, and describe it as so much “hot air” (says the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald). It is claimed by those who oppose it that the scheme is not justified in itself, and will lead only, to mad international competition for air supremacy, which would be dangerous in these days when tempers are more easily raised than subdued.

The Air Ministry is convinced, however, that something must soon -be done to restore the prestige of the Royal Air Force, which, although equipped with some of the fastest and most efficient machines in the world, only takes fifth place among the air forces in actual strength. The loss of air records in recent weeks is relatively unimportant, but it is felt by the Air Ministry to be essential that Britain’s air defences should at least be adequate. Little hope of an international air treaty remains, and, in the face of the progressive policy of France, Italy, and Russia, it is held that the British Government would be ill-advised to delay for a moment longer than is necessary. The Cabinet will probably review the situation at an early date, and provision may be made in the next Budget for the batch of new machines, including .a squadron of powerful flying boats to work in conjunction with the navy. The proposed interceptor fighting ’planes would be fitted with Schneider Trophy Rolls Royce engines, and would be capable of a speed of nearly 300 miles an hour, thus being the speediest machines in existence. Among British experts it is claimed that the lessons of the flight of the 24 Italian seaplanes from Rome to Chicago are much exaggerated, and that no good purpose would be served by emulating the flight. The Italian flying boats were designed for the Mediterranean, and could only take off and alight in smooth water. Moreover, they were all the time dependent on weather conditions. By extraordinary luck, conditions were mostly favourable. As to the non-stop record established by the French aviators, Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos (5915 miles), fhe Air Ministry already possesses machines that could break it, if the cost was warranted. It is not quality that the R.A.F. lacks at the moment, but quantity, and that is the problem which is causing the Government so much uneasiness.