GROWTH OF THE AIR FORCE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23394, 30 July 1941, Page 8

GROWTH OF THE AIR FORCE

30,000 Applications For Enlistment UNIT AT PACIFIC ISLAND , ' (PiU WELLINGTON, July J9. ' “The Royal New Zealand Air Force is now a force in every sense of the word,” said the Minister for Defence (the Hon; F.- Jones), speaking in the Budget debate In the House of Representatives to-night. “When war broke out, it was already in the throes of expansion and development, and the change-over to a war footing merely involved a tremendous speeding Up of all peace-time plans.” Since the outbreak of warapphcar tions for enlistment: in the Royal New Zealand Air Force totalled more than 30,000, the- Minister said, and the total personnel engaged in the Air Force In the. Dominion was now well over 11 times greater than it was at the beginning. of the conflict The effort, had not beeh ; solely directed to supplying personnel - for Canada,* the Air Force tix ByttativAndlocal, regjtiremeft&and

they had been able to meet requests for the maintenance of a unit at one of the Pacific islands. Referring to the accident rate among training personnel, the Minister said that a study of the data showed that very few accidents had been due to mechanical trouble. Many of them had been due to errors of judgment, negligence, and low flying. Low flying was distinctly contrary to instructions, and it had been necessary to adopt strict disciplinary action where flagrant breaches had been proved. A large proportion of the accidents had taken place in the winter months, when fly--ing conditions were not of the best. A survey of the position, however, showed that the accident rate in New Zealand compared more than favourably with that in other countries, and he was satisfied that every possible precaution was being taken to reduce the rate rtill further. , “1 can assure the House, Mr Jones said, "that no stone has been left unturned to render New Zealand immune from an invasion. The air training scheme alone ensures that there will always be a large number of trained personnel available in the Dominion for operational purposes in an emergency.” The Minister, paying a tribute to the success of tiie airmen overseas, said that to date more than 100 awards and honours had been won by New Zealanders. They included one Distinguished Service, three, George Medals, three Distinguished Flying Crosses with bar, 77 Distinguished Flying Crosses, nine Distinguished Flying Medals,. Alr Forcq-qrpfifffr^