GERMAN AIR FORCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 24 November 1938, Page 3

GERMAN AIR FORCE

SECRET BEGINNING IN DISUSED; BARNS SUPPLIES WORLD WITH MILITARY' ' AIRCRAFT I ljy Air Mail—Special Correspondent I j LONDON. 29th October. j The remarkable progress of the five- j year-old German aircraft industry I which has secured contracts from South i Africa, as well as from Japan, and | countries in Europe and South America, is emphasised in a series of articles published by a German news- ! paper closely associated with FieldMarshal Goering. They describe how the German air force was rebuilt on modern lines, in secret, from humble beginnings. The first step in the secret creation of a skeleton air force was the appointment of the then Captain Goering a& j “Reich Commissioner for Air” in February, 1933. Not only was there no military flying equipment available, but the number of factories capable of turning out military machines were limited to four or j five. The problem of personnel was! < urgent, since the German aircraft in- i duslry had “lain fallow” for 15 years. It was necessary to make use of the practical experience of war-time fliers before they became too old for instructional work. “The mobilisation of the air industry in Germany at this time, which was indeed a complete re-creation, makes the present mobilisation of British industry seem modest.” declares the writer. The Dornier. Junkers and Keinkel factories, which had been “living from hand to mouth,” were at once engaged in the work of secret air rearmament. A new factory was built for the Henschel Company within a space of 90 days. It was regarded as essential that the first trained air squadrons should b* ! ready within 18 months or two years, , | since the process of rearmament in the air could not be kept secret for a longer I period. The first recruits were installed in \ old sheds and disused barns. Undet j the circumstances there were losses during training, but the ranks were ; easily filled from the number of volun- , leers available. j No uniforms were worn, and to all j appearances the trainees were civilians. Military aircraft gradually began to 1 trickle through from the factories, so j then when "the protests from abroad | in 1935 remained paper condemnations 1 the path of the German air force was at •j last free.” j From this point onwards the pace redoubled. since one of the chief hindrances had hitherto been the necesi sitv for secrecy. Any facts which leak- ! ed out had had to be ascribable to “development of civil aviation.” The triumph of German military fliers at the Zurich air meeting in July and August, 1937. was a turning-point. Foi the first time since the war the German military machines were seen over foreign territory. The victories in all classes of the German aircraft were a sudden eye- ( j opener to other countries.