EMPIRE AIRMEN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 118, 12 February 1941, Page 8

EMPIRE AIRMEN

Large Batch Welcomed To Britain READY FOR SPRING CAMPAIGN (By Telegraph— Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received February 11, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, February 10. One of the largest batches of trainees from Australia. New Zealand. and Canada was welcomed in Britain today by Lord Cranborne, Dominions Secretary: the High Commissioner for Canada, Mi. Vincent Massey; the High Commissioner for Australia, Mr. S. M. Bruce: the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Mr. W. J. Jordan; and Mr. Balfour, Undersecretary for Air.

The contingent from Canada included British airmen who have been trained in that country under the Empire scheme, and Australians and New Zealanders whose training was nearly completed in their own countries and who, with the best of this contingent, will be posted direct to an operational training unit. Many are pilots and all are members of air crews.

Lord Cranborne, welcoming them, said: “You come just at the right moment, because by all appearances the spring campaign is nearly upon us, and I am quite certain you could not wish to miss that. You come to join a very noble company, and I am sure you will add further to its lustre and fame. “You have been trained under the Empire scheme, which is not only one of the most impressive examples of Imperial co-operation, but also one of the most important, for even though it is still certain that power alone cannot win this war, it is certain that it must play a vital part in winning it. That has been made clear by our experiences at Dunkirk and in the battles of Britain and in the recent weeks of Libya.

“1 imagine that nothing could lie more exasperating or discouraging to Hitler and his collaborators than to see this steadily increasing and inexorable wave of the finest pilots in the world coming steadily across the Atlantic to our shores, not only to defend this island but to strike continued and increasing blows at the vital parts of Germany.”