COMING FACTORS IN AIR WAR

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 8, 4 October 1941, Page 10

COMING FACTORS IN AIR WAR

German And British Problems BRITISH COMMENT (British Official Wireless.) (Received October 3, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, October 2. In a leading article headed “Toward Air Mastery,” "The Tinies” analyses Mr. Churchill’s recent statement in the House of Commons, in which he said, “The enemy’s only, shortage is in the air.” This, “The Tinies” states, conveyed sober encouragement to the nation, and it adds that this shortage is because the Luftwaffe is not strong enough to undertake an offensive on the Russian front as well as an attack on Britain on a scale equal to that launched last September. “The Tinies” points out that should the concentration be directed exclusively against Britain again Germany still has a vast lighting force and sufficient reserves to deliver an assault at least as heavy as anything that has yet been experienced. The mounting figures of British and American production, however, should guarantee that the relative strength changes continuously, adversely to Germany. Regarding British production, which “The Times” states surpassed all previous records in the month of September, the first claim on the increasing supply falls to Russia, a necessity which postpones the great expansion in the home-based Air Force. Great Flow of Personnel. “With every prospect of 'increasing activity in Africa and the possibility of the opening up of new fronts,” the newspaper continues, “no expansion of our resources in the air can be too great—not even the immense reinforcement that, as Mr. 'Malcolm Macdonald told us on Tuesday, is now pouring into Britain from Canada. “The Empire air training scheme in the Dominion has grown far beyond the original plan and is already months ahead of schedule. The High Commissioner described the output of trained airmen, which will reach a maximum next year, as already ‘terrific,’ while at the same time the Air Minister in the Dominion was announcing the intention of doubling the number of schools and aerodromes at present in existence. “It is in this matter of the supply of trained men—and in the quality of that supply, for the R.A.F. bars always insisted on really thorough training—that we have the best prospect of establishing decisive superiority over the Luftwaffe.”