TERRITORIAL AIR FORCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 August 1939, Page 3

TERRITORIAL AIR FORCE

! SQUADRON FOR OTAGO I ! [I’EU PRESS ASSOCIATION.) i —— ' WELLINGTON. August 24. [ An Otago squadron of the Territorij al Air Force is to he formed next January. This announcement was! I made to-day by the Minister for De-j 'fence (Mr. Jones). who said that the| < construction of buildings at Taieri I j aerodrome for the use of the squadron , I was under way. A double timber han-, j gar. 125 feet by 250 feet, was half | [ completed, the. Minister said, and ten-| i decs were to be called next week for! (he erection of a number of other[ j buildings that would be required. | i These would include a building far [ [ the accommodation of personnel, as well as a combined mess for officers, non-commissioned officers, and airmen , and an institute building for studies, and recreation. [ “l(. is not known yet. what the, strength of the squadron will be: but! ii will probably be in line witli thatj of Wellington, Auckland, and Christ-' 'church squadrons, which have, already been formed. In Auckland, the squad-[ ron consists of 20 officers am! 77 air-, I men. and in Wellington of 18 officers ! and 96 airmen, and in Christehureh of I 17 officers and 92 airmen." > i Duties in which Lite Teri’itorial Aii' ) i Force would be used include local de-| I fence of ports and tin* coasts of the. Dominion, in which the co-operation [ [of aircraft with other defence forces' would be called for. Such co-operation,; ! it is stated, is likely to entail in the 1 I aggregate a great deal of flying, and ■ it would be unsound to tie up the regu-. 1 lar squadrons’ in that class of work.! I For local patrols and escorts, and for! ! attacks on hostile vessels in coastal I waters, territorial squadrons provide | a satisfactory and economical force. i - i DELIVERY OF ’PLANES i I i WELLINGTON. August 21. [ | Six more Airspeed Oxford aero-1 planes ordered for the Koval New Zea-' land Air Force are expected to be delivered from England about Novem-j bey 6. according to a statement made j I to-day by the Minister, 'rhe Minister [said (hat he had not yet been ad-| : vised by what boat the machines were I lining shipped. I The Royal New Zealand Air Force! already has live Oxfords, which are*

| n. : r— I twin-engined Hainers. 'l'hcy were assembled at the Hobsonville base, and (have been operated for the most part ' from the flying training school at Wig- [ ram. It is expected that the six machI ines about to be delivered will also he assembled at Hobsonville. The Airspeed Oxford is a popular training machine for teaching young pilots to h.-indle twin-engined craft. Pilots will be trained on the Oxfords before being transferred to the much larger I Vickers Wellington bombers, of which 13" arc on order for New Zealand.