FRANCE'S AIR FLEET

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 11

FRANCE'S AIR FLEET

THIS YEAE'S PEQ^EAMHE

HUGE, FIGHTING FORCE"

Warplane■.: factories, throughout France are working ,at top speed following the approval given by the Air Commission of. the Chamber of Deputies to 'the Government's new proposals, writes the Paris correspondent/of the "Daily Mail;" / / ;. These proposals w_ere that the programme originally intended to be com.pleted by the end of '•: 1936 should be ftnishedthis year, and that 1500 new warplanes should be built this year instead .of the. 1100 at' -first planned for the-two years. . / . / .. This means that France will have spent £50i00d,00p in two years on aircraft construction. CHIEFLY BOMBERS. General Denain, in a statement which he made at a private meeting of the Air Commission of the Chamber, pointed out theft the need, for speed arose owing, to the announcement of General Goering, the German Air Minister/that his policy had been "to pro< vide Germany with a military air force strong enough/ to defend her at any time against aerial' attack." •:. - '• ' "FranceV air* fleet af the end; of 1935 ,wilj^ number'-between1 4000-and-. 5000 rflgHtihgand'rdtaliati'on machhies;, '/ General^ Deriaih' pomted o\itt! to the Air Commission" that the major part of .the special new, squadrons «were to be- heavy retaliation 'warplaries^-that is-to say, bdrribhig .machines. He stated that. Germany today was, in a state of industrial j mobilisation. She was feverishly building up stocks of armaments, munitions, ,arid stores. .'./■ He addbd that' Germany had built up a large, part of her reserve' of wheat with purchases from the last '• French surplus crop.. / ' ' / . '■'■■'. AIR-MINDED YOUTH. General Niessel, a former "member ..of the French/Superior Council of v War, and until recently Inspector-General of the French 'Air Force, expressed' his whole-hearted support of General Denain's action in' demanding the immediate expansion of- France's air force.- !" ;■■■•■'■ ■';.'■ - ,'.• /. ■ ' "There are people," he said, "who say that the youth of France today is not "up to scratch.' I entirely disagree with this. I' travel about the country continually and visit : all sorts of organisations^ ;.'V ; ' "I*, haye foimd that the young men of" France—l*'mean. those; Jrpin; 18 to 22 years of-ager-are every bit as virile and aSjde.termined as were their fathers who saw through the four'years bfthe Great War. ' ... "The. -youth of today is air-minded, and 'there. are always thousands more volunteers for the; air arm than for any other branch of the service. ./■''-. ."If war came^—and we: all hope that this will be.', averted—the youth/of "France Will clamour for their turn to serve as pilots, as, did their elders, such as Guynenier and the other great French-aces." i : GERMAN AIR STRENGTH. , General Niessel did not, however, disguise the fact that,the German air arm at present was to be regarded by both-Great Britain and France as most redoubtable. ;" . , , "Two years ago Germany was willing and almost: anxious," he said, "to show all her latest inventions and her progress in aircraft construction. Today nobody can know what Germany is doing. - "We know,' however, sufficient to realise that even now the German Air Force might be considered superior to the :combined forces of.Britain and France as the French strength .now stands. " "It would not be an exaggeration to say that Germany can produce 2000 aeroplanes "and 2500. air engines . a month. I do not think that she is doing this at present; but I believe that she is turning but, at least 20 new fullyequipped aeroplanes a week." General Niessel declared that, although far from being a pessimist, he felt it necessary to make the'folio whig grave statements:— ."Germany is now industrially prepared to maintain a great air force and a standing army of 600,000 men, with all the resources which such an army implies. / • ' ■ ; "If she willed she could embark upon a great war this summer. ■ "Paris, and perhaps still more so London," he went on, "are extremely vulnerable to air attacks—to a greater degree than'are other great capitals of Europe: The vital point for.both Britain and France is to speed up their industrial mobilisation, and especially their. aircraft industry, without the slightest delay..