AIRCRAFT OUTPUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1942, Page 4

AIRCRAFT OUTPUT

SURPRISES IN STORE FOR ENEMY

MINISTER'S ASSURANCES

RUGBY, February 21.

Work is now in hand on aircraftengine types which will astound the Nazis, and the aircraft industry has many other surprises for the enemy. The Minister of Aircraft Production, Lieutenant-Colonel Moore-Brabazon, gave these assurances in a comprehensive talk today on' the progress of the industry.

Development of the four-engined type of bomber, with its increased range, was bound to play a vital part now that the war had spread over such astronomical distances, he said. He also announced that the Hampden and the Whitley had passed out of production on a large scale, but the welltried Wellington remained, and was in large supply. While the American Boeings and Liberators had been a most valued acquisition to the K.A.F., British bombers had a bigger bomb load, in most cases twice that of the American planes. Now that production was going forward on a larger scale, ,the problem of man-hours was decreasing, and in the case of one fighter the man-hours required for building the machine had been reduced 50 per cent. U.S.A. GETTING INTO STRIDE. Referring to American aid, the Minister paid a tribute to the Mustang and the Kittyhawk. Both, he said, were first-rate fighters, and the Kittyhawk had already proved itself with successes in the Middle East. They were grateful for all the United States had done for them, and the more they got from the United States the better he would be pleased. So far, however, the machines had not been coming in the stream they would like to see. The entry of America into the war, they realised, would have an effect oh supplies, but they also knew that America was now really getting busy and that the vast figures promised by the President would be made possible by harnessing the motor-car industry to aircraft production. He thought the entry of America into the war would also solve many problems of modification to American aircraft from which they had suffered a good deal. The liaison between Britain and the United States concerning the problem of spares was getting better every day.

He emphasised that supplies -to Russia under the joint British' American agreement would continue, and said that the quota fixed would not be diminished. If possible, it would be increased.—8.0. W.