ASSISTANCE FOR AERO CLUBS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14857, 20 December 1948, Page 3

ASSISTANCE FOR AERO CLUBS

IMMEDIATE NEED STRESSED

Vital To Future Of

New Zealand

Training Youth Of

Dominion

(P.A.) Wellington, Dec. 18. “Unless some assistance is forthcoming immediately many aero clubs will go out of existence in a very short space of time,” said the secretary of the Wellington Aero Club, Mr J. W. Annand, today.

“What we need is assistance now, not next year or the year following,” said Mr Annand. “It is vital to the future of this country that we should be prepared, and what better preparation than to train the youth of New Zealand in aerial defence?” Mr Annand said the Tymms report had stated very clearly that the worth and value of aero clubs more than repaid the subsidies they received for training before the war. Air Training Corps work was being done by clubs at a loss. It cost more than the Government paid for it. The gift Tiger Moths were too costly to receive, for* clubs had to snend considerable sums bringing them td airworthiness, and they were obsolete and costly to maintain.

The Tymms report had suggested, as one method of Government assistance, the progressive replacement of existing fleets with more modern aircraft selected after consultation with clubs. He thought the DPI Chipmunk would be eminently suitable for training.