FIGHTING IN AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22398, 20 April 1936, Page 6

FIGHTING IN AIR

(NEW BRITISH MACHINE [OVER; 300 MILES AN HOUR EXPANSION OF FORCE [from our ows correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON, March 21 The .Under-Secretary of State for 'Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, revealed in the course of hie speech introducing the Air Estimates for 1936 to the House of Commons, that Britain has a new single-seater fighting aeroplane which, in trials, has achieved a speed 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 monoplane with Rolls-Royce Merlin liquid-cooled engine—will 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, "we have two or three types of the very highest promise about to pass into large-scale production. One of them is a development from the machine so generously presented to the Royal Air 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 types. To adapt it for military use, its designer found it necessary drastically to recast the whole lay-out of the machine. It has been converted from a low-wing monoplane to a mid-wing monoplane. All of the indications are that in speed, range and load-carrying capacity this type will be quite outstanding. "Machines which promise excellently are in course of development in other important categories. The House can rest assured that, over the force as a whole, our equipment will be second to none. I 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 British 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 in 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 almost 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 the war. As a meas.ure 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 ast three months of 1935 by 6000, and is still steadily increasing." By the end of the financial year 1936 the firstline strength of the Royal Air Force would have been doubled in two years.