HELP INADEQUATE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 16 December 1947, Page 6

HELP INADEQUATE

AERO CLUB TRAINING HIGHER CHARGES OPPOSED CRITICISM OF MINISTER (P.A.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Dec. 16. “Aero clubs will cease to be training schools for flying and become just playgrounds for the rich man if the present policy of the Government towards clubs is continued,” said the president of the New Plymouth Aero Club, Mr. H. W. Lightband, at a meeting of the committee of the club last night. A letter from the Royal New Zealand Aero Club stating that the Minister of Defence, Mr. F. Jones, had recently bluntly stated that clubs would have to increase their flying charges introduced the subject. The policy of the aero clubs had been to reduce costs for the sole purpose of making aviation possible to the average young working man, continued Mr. Lightband, thus creating a reserve of pilots, instructors, ground staff, buildings and equipment—all assets of inestimable value nationally. This value was shown on the outbreak of the last war when club-trained pilots became the foundation of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

•‘With the present unsettled state of international affairs this training of pilots is of even increasing Importance,” he declared. The > statement of the Minister of Defence showed that he had lost touch with the true position.. Before the war clubs received subsidies for the training of pilots and could then only just carry on without subsidies.

The clubs would have to discontinue as flying training schools and dispense with instructors, training aircraft and a large part of their ground staffs. “This, I feel, would be a national disaster,” declared Mr. Lightband. "Australia, Canada and practically every other country in the British Commonwealth are giving subsidies for civil flying training.”