ALLIED AIR FORCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23953, 31 October 1939, Page 9

ALLIED AIR FORCE

READY TO RETALIATE IF LONDON IS ATTACKED EXPERTS IMPRESSED (By Radio) DAVENTRY, Oct. 30. The Allied forces on the Western Front and the R.A.F. are prepared to resist to the full any large-scale German air activity, as inferred by Field-marshal Goering. If an attack is made by German bombers on London the Allied forces are ready to retaliate. The activities of R.A.F. bombers over Germany have been purely restricted to reconnaissance work, and there has been no threat at any time to civilian safety. It is pointed out that none of the machines engaged in these flights has carried bombs. Experts declare that the British machines are speedier than the German planes, are better equipped, and are better able to stand up to the strain of warfare. The morale of the British and French pilots is also stronger. The French Air Force has carried out 350 reconnaissance flights by day and 70 at night, flying at a height of 25,000 feet. These machines, too, have not on those occasions carried bombs. Two hundred French, all young men, are offering their services each day as pilots, mechanics and wireless operators.