TO TRAIN BRITISH PILOTS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 198, 19 May 1941, Page 8

TO TRAIN BRITISH PILOTS

American Air Schools WAR DEPARTMENT APPROVES (By Telegraph. — Press- a-su—Copyright.) (Received May 18, 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON. May 17. Officials said today that the War Department had approved a plan whereby the United States Army Air Corps schools will train thousands of British pilots. The plan includes: Firstly, the immediate use of primary and basic training facilities, and private civilian flying schools now training American pilots; secondly, the British will contract with six schools, building new facilities, for which the United States Army will. supply planes and equipment, while the British will pay instructors and personnel; thirdly, advanced training by Maxwell, Moffat and Randolph fields, not including combat training. Officials emphasized that British flyers expected from all parts of the Empire will enter the schools as civilians, not as members of the R.A.F., in order to comply with United States laws.

The Immigration Service announced that hundreds of Federal agents in at least nine cities are taking into custody an undetermined number of foreign seamen, believed to he mostly Italians and Germans, charged, with overstaying 60-day leave in the United States. The cities are New York. Boston. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Seattle. Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It is described as a continuation of the round-up of May 7, when 150 Germans were taken into custody. The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies today issued a statement urging President Roosevelt to announce that the United States will not permit the Axis to gain direct or indirect control of Dakar, the Azores and Cape Verde. The committee proposed that the United States and Britain should jointly occupy those places as a protective measure if there were any danger of German control. “Vichy's capitulation, increasing the danger of Spanish collaboration and the menace of Germany to Portugal, presents the gravest threat to the Western Hemisphere since American independence.” the committee said. President Roosevelt told his Press conference that his new civilian defence programme was almost ready for bis final approval. Il might profoundly affect every man, woman and child in the United Slates, but details were not given.

French Ships Seized. French ships which have been seized up to the present total 13. Maritime circles said that the crews were mostly secret followers of General de Gaulle and were delighted at the possibility that the vessels may be put into service against Germany. The crew of the Normandie welcomed the coastguardsmen and toasted President Roosevelt in champagne. The Secretary of State. Mr. Hull, in a speech to the Pan-American Union in Washington, said: “The present effort to build up world mastery by force will be defeated within a reasonable time, just as all other such efforts in history have collapsed, though we shall have to pass through hardship and sacrifice.”

Tlie German ships Quito and Bogota have sailed from Coquimbo for an unknown destination, states a Santiago (Chile) message.