AERIAL WARCRAFT

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 35, 4 November 1933, Page 18

AERIAL WARCRAFT

Britain’s Bid for Supremacy

Monster Hying boats for use with the Navy, several squadrons of new fighting aeroplanes for home defence, and 20 new warships. These are the plans of the Government to provide for the safety of Great Britain in the air. and on sea. AU the air machines will be built within the next 12 months. The new lighting machines will all be of the latest type, capable of intercepting and bringing down any enemy bombing or poison-spraying ’planes that attempt to attack Britain. They will be drafted to the most vital spots in the British air defences. There may be some criticism of this new building programme when the details are submitted to the House of Commons, but it will be pointed out that even when the new machines are built, Britain will still be fifth down the list of the air powers of the world. Prance, Italy, Russia, and the U.S.A, all have their air fleets considerably larger than the British, and even Germany—which is supposed to be dis-

armed —has thousands of so-called “commercial” machines which could be converted into bombers and poisonsprayers in a few hours. The Disarmament Conference has still to register its Anal decisions at Geneva, but it is not now anticipated that any agreement will be reached which will involve substantially scaling down the air fleets of the four nations that have bigger forces than Britain. Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell,- the First Lord of the Admiralty, will include in the coming Navy Estimates provision for the construction of 20 new war vessels —including cruisers, destroyers, and submarines—with a view to restoring some of the sea-power that Britain has lost in the last few years.

Firms of ship constructors on the Tyne, the Mersey, and the Clyde will be asked to submit tenders for the construction of the majority of these ships, while a few will be built in the Admiralty yards at Portsmouth, Chatham, and Devonport.—“Sunday Chronicle.”