AIR DEFENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 85, 21 January 1930, Page 4

AIR DEFENCE.

Sir.—l do sincerely hope that the seeds you have sow n in your leader of yesterday will fall on iruittul ground, and that the truth of the anomaly that exists with regard to the New Zealand Air Foice will lie brought home to our legislators. Only on Saturday last we were informed that Squadron-Leader .1. L. Findlay, who is in Englarfd lor special training, was the only man at the Central Flying School to obtain his A 1 certificate. 11 that he so, his ability must lie outstanding, yet he will no doubt he brought back to take charge ohWigrain and its wonderful (?) array of air machines. Obviously, the position calls for revision at an early date. .Representatives of the Government have been urging the country to become airminded, hut at the same time those same representatives have not seen fit to give the Ajr Force.the -equipment it should have, equipment that progress in aircraft demands. Armies and navies in the future (I say this in spite of all the Disarmament Conferences the Powers likie to call together) will be utterly useless in a war unless they can he protected from the air. Individual ’planes could destroy Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland, and Dunfedin in less than an hour, operating from a base at sea unless the N.Z.A.F. had ’planes there to drive them away. This is not fancy, to my mind; it is a grim reality, sea power, while extremely advantageous on occasion, would wither before a well-planned, determined aerial attack. We took upon our Gloster Grebes as, wonderful machines; hut how many are there? Three at most. And then we thought the arrival of the two sea-going ’planes a few months ago an achievement in air defence. Rut how utterly lacking is this force of ours, which an authority in England said was remarkably keen and efficient, hut hopelessly handicapped by Parliament. The growth of airmindedness in New Zealand in the last 12 months has been phenomenal. Aero clubs have an aggregate membership of just under d3OO, and there aie about 30 light ’planes in the country, apart from the Government Moths—the growth, of one year—hut still the Government ties the Air Force to the Army’s apron-strings. The only decent-sized ’plane we have (a fourplace de Hnvillnnd, at W igram) is for sale. Our Air Force should have at least a dozen new fighting ’planes, say, three Armstrong Whitworth Atlases (Jaguar engines), two HnndleyPage Ha res ulay bombers), or two Hawker day bombers, throe Westland Wapiti (general purposes) and at least one Fairey seaplane in addition to the present equipment. It is pitiful to think that a refresher course lor pilots on the reserve is now in full swing at Wigram, training on the obsolete Bristol Fighters. The suggested equipment would cost a lot oi money, certainly, hut that could be obtained by a curtailment of the Territorial camps which are held every year. They would give a variety of experience for the pilots. Why wait till it might be too late?