SERVICE 'PLANES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 44, 22 February 1937, Page 9

SERVICE 'PLANES.

AUSTRALIAN BUILT.

AIRCRAFT AND ENGINES.

FOR TT*E XM AIR FORCE.

Plans are well advanced for the con-1 struction of service aircraft and aeroplane engines in Australia, and a factory is at present being erected in Melbourne. On the Aorangi to-day, Flight-Lieutenant D. M. Carroll, who is connected with the newly-formed Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, of Mebourne, spoke of recent developments. Accompanied by Mrs. Carroll, he is on his way to Connecticut, U.S.A., to study production methods. ,

Flight-Lieutenant Carroll said the new corporation's plan was to produce types of aeroplanes and engines primarily for Air Force use. It was proposed to begin with thei advanced trainer tvj>e. The following of approved designs might, he added, lead in time to a new type being evolved that was especially suited to Australian conditions.

"The belief is held that Australia should be self-supporting in this respect," explained Flight-Lieutenant Carroll. "This is the first serious effort to manufacture aircraft and engines in the Commonwealth. Our factory is already under construction in Melbourne, and it is lio[>ed that this will be completed altout July and that the manufacture of aircraft will proceed almost immediately. The building of engines, however, is a bigger proposition, and a ,considerable amount of further research will be necessary to select and produce the most suitable type."

Flight-Lieutenant Carroll will spend some months investigating methods at the Pratt and Whitney works and expects to return to Australia about August. To take up his present position he resigned from the Royal Australian Air Force, in which he had had 1(5 years' service, mostly in New South Wales and Victoria. The director of the corporation, Sir Colin Fraser, also arrived by the Aorangi to visit the Dominion on other business. The company is backed mainly by Australian I capital, together with British and a small percentage of United States

money. The Australian Air Force wan building up very strongly, Flight-Lieutenant Carroll said. By June of this year there would be approximately 1000 men enlisted in all branches of the service, while at present there were over 90 pupils at Point Cook, Victoria.