AIR SUPREMACY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1941, Page 11

AIR SUPREMACY

BRITAIN NOW ON TOP

NEW AIR CHIEFS OPINION

DEBT TO RUSSIA

Great Britain and her Dominions are now maintaining-.an Air Force that is at least equal to, and probably exceeds,.the Air Force maintained by the German Reich, according to a statement made in an interview today by Air Commodore R. V. Goddard, C.8.E., who has arrived in New Zealand to take up the post of Chief of the Air Staff in succession to Air Commodore H. W. L. Saunders. "In total air strength we have reached parity with Germany at least, and that has happened considerably earlier than it could possibly have happened but for the fighting in I Russia. With the German air force occupied en that front, British factories have been able to speed up their war production almost unhampered." Air Commodore Goddard said that the maximum production of the United States had yet to be fully realised. In reply to a question about the relative efficiency of. the British and German Air Forces, he said that it was hard to make aiiy general comparison, because of the different aspects of air activity, but Britain did feel that it was .leading in the matter of the thorough training of its pilots. "Provided, therefore, we have aircraft equal to or superior than those of the enemy," he added, "we may be confident of success in battle." "No, I do not regard the Germans as I inferior to our pilots and airmen," he said, in reply to another question. "Ixi courage, there is very little difference between them, but I do repeat that it lis the thorough training that we give t our men that gives them a definite adj vantage." • INTEREST IN NEW ZEALANDERS. i Air Commodore Goddard said he took a particular interest in the New Zealanders, who were regarded with much admiration at Home for their ability as airmen. As pilots, he said,

there were none better. He studied their training methods particularly, because one of the New Zealanders' main functions, apart from defence, was to contribute, through the ; Empire training scheme, to Imperial defence. ' ' He left England on October 1, and his journey took him through Canada, where he studied the Canadian air force organisation and met those responsible for it, and he did the same in Australia. He also visited the naval and military authorities at Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies, and had conversations with the British Commander-m-Chief, Far East, at Singapore.' . . . . ■ . • . "In this way I was able to get a better understanding of the strategic situation in the Pacific, and to appreciate New Zealand's position from the j point of view of air co-operation and i air defence in collaboration with the I other services," he said. "I was very happy to find that the New Zealand units I visited—in England and in Singapore—werejn very good heart." INVASION OF ENGLAND. Questioned about the ability of the Germans to invade England, Commodore Goddard said that England could not be successfully invaded unless its Fighter Command was crippled. "And there is such flexibility in j the Employment of the Fighter Comi mand and such a multiplicity of aerodromes available, that the crippling of the Fighter Command would need a much greater effort on the part of the Germans than has so far been seen, plus novel methods, and a great expenditure of men and material," he added. Referring to the Russian air force, he said Russia had always maintained a very large air force since the last war. This meant that the renovation and. re-equipment of many types of planes had to be spread over a long period. . Therefore, the Germans did not expect to find a high proportion of planes of the most modern type. But Russia technically had kept very well up to date, and had some firstrate equipment, as the Germans had found to their cost. A VARIED EXPERIENCE. Air Commodore Goddard has had a varied experience in the Air Force, j Before the war he was an intelligence! officer in Europe, and he was able to study air tactics in the Spanish war. He was in France with the British Expeditionary Force as^ a senior staff officer, and after the Battle of France he was appointed Director of the Army Co-operation Command, after being partly responsible for implementing the decision to establish this command. The development of this organisation has been his task, and the recent experience in Egypt has shown the value of this co-operation. Air Commodore Goddard ' also served in the last war on airship j duties, which consisted of flying air- j ships, with aeroplane fuselages attached, over the English Channel in. search.of U-boats. In 1930-31 ho. was in command of No. 30 Squadron at Mosul, in Irak, and co-operated with the Irak army in quelling trouble. In | 1936 "he was appointed Deputy Director of Intelligence, and in 1937. at the invitation of the German Air Ministry, he paid p visit to German air stations and training establishments. During the evacuations at Dunkirk he was responsible for co-ordinating air operations. • ■