FIGHTING IN AIR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 111, 23 April 1936, Page 5

FIGHTING IN AIR

Expansion of British Air Force FIGHTERS AT 300 M.P.H. (By Air Mail). LONDON, March 21. The Under-Secretary of State fur Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, revealed in the course of his speech introducing tho Air Estimates for 1936 to the Houof Commons, that Britain has a new single-seater fighting aeroplane which, in official trials, has achieved a sped of well over 300 miles an hour. Another machine which has begun its trials is confidently expected to reach at least the same speed. The former type—a Hawker liquid-cooled enginewill now go straight into production. Sir Philip said:—‘‘According to the latest information in our possession it will be the fastest aircraft of this category in service in the world.” He then referred to another type of machine in the programme of expansion of the Royal Air Force —the medium bomber. “In this category,” he stated, "wo have two or three types of the vcr» highest promise about to pass into large-scale production. One of them i« a development from the machine b-> generously presented to the Koya! A Force by Lord Rothermere. AN OUTSTANDING TYPE. ‘‘This aircraft, the Bristol type 142 monoplane, affords an interesting illustration of the different characteristics which are increasingly called for between purely civil and military type-. To adapt it for military use, its dsigner found it necessary drastically to recast the whole lay-out of the machine. It has been converted from alo wing monoplane to a mid-wing monoplane. All of the indications are th - 1 m speed, range and load-carrying capacity this type will be quite outstanding, “Machines which promise excellen - ly are in course of development i.i other important categories. The Hou. > can rest assured that, over the force a< a whole, our equipment will be second to none. 1 need hardly emphasise that in the air, as in so many other spheres, there is something even more important than numerical strength, and that is quality. “We have always known that Briti-h designers and British craftsmen could, given the opportunity, produce the best articles in the world. They are proving this yet again. It is no wonder that British aircraft are to-day iu use in 26, and British aero engines in 25, different countries. It is no matter for surprise that inquiries from abroad for the purchase of British machines and engines are being received abroad continuously.”

EXPANSION PROGRAMME. Striking comparisons enabled Sir Philip to give the House a vivid impression of the magnitude of the expansion programme without revealing figures, the publication of which would not be in the public interest. He said: —“We anticipate taking delivery over the next three years of a substantially larger number of machines than during the whole 17 years since tho war. As a measure of the progress already achieved, I may say that the total output of the British aircraft industry in 1935 was approximately equal to that of the United States. “The number of employees in the aircraft industry proper, that is, in the works of manufacturers of machines and engines, rose during the last three months of 1935 by 6500, and is still steadily increasing." By the «:■<! of tho financial year 1936 the fir line strength of the Royal Air To • would hns-e been doiihled in i■ <_ years.