BRITISH WARPLANES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 13 June 1939, Page 5

BRITISH WARPLANES

PRODUCTION OF 750 A MONTH EQUAL TO GERMANY’S OUTPUT STATEMENT BY SIR KINGSLEY WOOD I U.P.A.—By Electric Telegraph-Copy right) LONDON, 12th June. The output of British planes is now 750 a month, equalling Germany’s output for September. The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood interviewed by the “Daily Express” said, “It is a different picture to-day, thanks to the efforts of many persons both in and out of the Air Ministry. Aircraft production is going on at an ever-increasing pace and there are' large sources of production which have not yet come into activitiy —Lord Nuffleld’s factory, for example.” According to her schedule, Britain should possess by March, 1940, 2370 first-line planes, necessitating a total personnel many times greater. One of the most important developments is the augmented armament, speed and load capacity of the planes. Sir Kingsley Wood denied that the latest bombers had outmoded the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane fighters, which would continue to be produced.

Britain’s steel output for May rose to a record high level of 121,800 tons.