ONE THOUSAND BRITISH AERO FACTORIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3182, 5 September 1917, Page 5

ONE THOUSAND BRITISH AERO FACTORIES

DR. ADDISON'ON INCREASE OF: 'j ' OUTPUT. { Br. Addison; Minister of Munitions, in j the course of a recent interview, said ] that the development of the aircraft ut-'' , dnstry was one of : the biggest tasks the .< Ministry had to face. "The single fact, .-.■.; he said, "that no fewer than ,1000 fee- ■:} tories are engaged on some process oiv.j other connected with the construction- -,; and equipment of the flying, machine,.-, proves the magnitude of the work we » have in hand. Output is increasing by; :| leap 3 and bounds. If for the purposes. J of comparison you put the number of. aeroplanes produced in May, 1916, at 100, , then in May, of this year the number -, rose to rather more.than 300: Eventing j rate of- increase is being accelerated. . ■" ..■; "To meet the .demand for labour spe- .;, oial schools have been started all over- j tho country, where a training of about. j two months qualifies a pupil to carry j out some simple process in aeroplane 1 ~ manufacture. About a hundred quali- ■.} fied workers are supplied each weekun-. _i der this system. More and more women, j are wanted. • ;...■• . ,i "New types-of aeroplanes are contmn-, -j ally being evolved. Those | for the manufacture of our flying machines have always had to allow for ... a new invention coming along and re- , volutionising all their projects. Whete v there is no finality there is.a limit .to ; standardisation, except in small detai s, -.. and the problem of supervising tho. ,■ manufacture of our aeroplanes is cor- 0 responding!/ complicated. ■-■.-•. "The variety of materials used in aero-. ,* piano, construction, again, has r beena. ]; great'source of anxiety to the Ministry- j For our present programme of construe- j tion moro spruce is wanted than the , 3 pr°<£ent annual output of the: United., .j States, more mahogany than Honduras can supply, and Honduras islaccustoni-;-od to simply the requirements of tho , world. Besides this, all the linen of < the type required made in Ireland, the .., home of the linen industry, and; fen-j So of the alloyed steel that England j can produce can bo used As for flax, to : meet tho needs of the Air Servico the j Government has actually to provide tho i seed from which to-grow tho, plant cs- j sential for its purposes." ~; '.j