THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, January 14, 1939. AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23707, 14 January 1939, Page 12

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, January 14, 1939. AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION

The Minister of Defence has indicated that the question of whether the British Air Mission which is coming to Australia shall visit New Zealand also has been under consideration by the British and New Zealand Governments, but that a definite announcement on the subject stands deferred. The purpose of the impending visit of the Royal Air Force mission to the Commonwealth is to discuss the question of the manufacture there of the latest typqs of British war planes. Australia has made a beginning with the local production of aeroplanes, but the British Government clearly envisages the value of a considerably greater development of such an activity. It is apparently proceeding on the principle that a measure of decentralisation in the production of aircraft is desirable, which means encouragement of the dominions to contribute to the creation of their own sources of supply of such armaments. Last year Britain sent an air mission to Canada, headed by Sir Hardman Lever, who will occupy the same position in respect of the mission to'Australia. Canada already possessed a well-established aeroplane industry, and its extension has since been brought about, and a central company formed to coordinate production. The British Government’s idea, as indicated by Lord Swinnerton, then Secretary for Air, in May last, is that Canada, with her aircraft factories remote from the possibility of attack, should become a valuable source of supply to Britain in wartime. It was suggested as a very real possibility that bombers built in Canada might be flown across the Atlantic for delivery in Britain. The purpose of the air mission to Australia seems to represent the development of a wider plan for the strengthening of the resources of the Empire in the matter of air defence, and has been interpreted as the building up of a source of air equipment supply in the Pacific which will ease the strain on Britain’s reserves, and strengthen the striking power of the Empire against any enemy east of Suez. The importance of air power as an armament factor is receiving increasing prominence, particularly in the matter of the resources for aerial attack or defence possessed by the various nations. Air fleets are envisaged as existing or in process of creation to-day of a magnitude unheard of a few years ago. The rate of the production of aircraft has been greatly acceler-

ated. The facts of war have changed beyond recognition, and what has to be contemplated to-day is the possibility of a “ total warfare,” as contrasted with the “ limited warfare ” of earlier times, in which progress in the art of organisation has made everybody a virtual combatant, while progress in technique has made everybody a potential target. Colonel Lindbergh’s report to the United States Government bearing upon Germany’s armed strength in the air, which he is said to have estimated at ten thousand first line fighters and bombers, with production facilities for war planes unequalled in the world, cannot but enlarge, to his uneasiness, the average man’s conception of the part which the air arm might play were the Great Powers to be involved jn another conflict. The problem of security has assumed new complexities, and has to be attacked from fresh angles. In respect of the air fleets of the world comparison is rendered difficult in the absence of authentic information concerning them. But as a factor in armaments competition they are in the forefront. A great uncertainty must exist as to security so long as aggressive nations proceed on the lines that in respect of military aviation they need only be a law unto themselves.