THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, November 22, 1944. NEED FOR CLARITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25699, 22 November 1944, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, November 22, 1944. NEED FOR CLARITY

The recent series of involuntary hints—they are no more than that—respecting the future of air training in New Zealand, which lias been largely bound up with the future of the immense British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, has almost a post-armistice flavour. It may all seem strange and premature while we are told by our responsible leaders that we should not count on the end of the war in Europe before winter, or even next spring, and that we may have to fight the Japanese for another year or two after that. New Zealand’s future role in the Pacific war is still obscure. There have been plans for large-scale Air Force expansion, and a Pacific despatch a day or two ago indicated fairly extensive R.N.Z.A.F. movement. But it seems that fuller information will have to await developments, to straggle along with no more likelihood of a definite and satisfying main purpose than there has been since the closing of the Rabaul chapter of R.N.Z.A.F. activity. The whole situation is so vague as to give rise to grave doubts whether those responsible for our active service policy know whither they are going. At least an indication was given by Air Commodore S. Wallingford when he told pilot graduates at Wigram recently that the R.N.Z.A.F. in the Pacific was in need of fighter pilots but that “ miscalculation ” had been made in overtraining crews for multi-engined aircraft. It would be difficult to criticise such miscalculation if, as Air Commodore Wallingford suggested, it resulted purely from a much lower wastage than was envisaged when the training schedule was planned. Apart from the confusion which is a natural consequence of the return of qualified pilots to civil life at this stage, there is every reason for satisfaction in the tapering-off of the Empire Training Plan, probably, next to the fortitude of the people of Great Britain through their darkest hours, the greatest single contribution to the present state of the war. According to the Canadian Minister for Air (Major C. G. Power), to whose energy and ability must go much of the credit for the success of so vast an undertaking, 114,253 aircrew members have graduated through the Canadian “ aerodrome of democracy.” Of these, 60,503 were R.C.A.F. personnel, 39,657 R.A.F., 8067 R.A.A.F., and 6026 R.N.Z.A.F. The cost in money has been 2,304,000,000 dollars, of which Canada will have contributed one-half after her accounts with Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand are closed. Australia and New Zealand have made total cash contributions of 207,000,000 dollars. For practically all the expenditure made in connection with the Plan, Canada advanced the money in the first instance. In effect, in addition to meeting its own appropriate share of the costs, the Canadian Government has played the role of creditor to its partners on a large scale. Canada has done her part magnificently, and it should not be overlooked now, when trainees are being disappointed, and it would seem on the face of it that the programme was unnecessarily ambitious, that the basic reason for this present confusion is simply the remarkable success of the whole undertaking.

At the peak of training, the Plan was turning out aircrew at the rate of 50,000 a year, and in addition more than 146,000 ground crew were trained for the purpose of keeping the chain of schools in operation and for posting overseas. These are illuminating statistics, and they explain in large part why the air oyer Europe is to-day filled with Allied aircraft, why Goering’s vaunted Luftwaffe has been driven from the skies, why Germany’s war industrial system, her railways and her transport have been wrecked to the point of annihilation, and why German armies are isolated and reduced by air power to the state that they can be handled by ground forces without undue losses. It should be remembered, too, that the closing down of the Empire Plan does not mean that the flow of aircrew from Canada is stopping overnight. When Major Power spoke last rnonth, there were 24,000 men still under training, including many New Zealanders, and he made the point that statistics of the present training production should be considered in the light of the fact that the Plan was operating in anticipation of requirements 18 months ahead. Already the Plan has passed through two phases in consequence of modified requirements of output. The existing agreement under which it operates is to cover a period of 33 months to March 31, 1945, and if circumstances warrant it, it is intended that a new one shall take effect from April 1, 1945. Under the first Plan, signed at Ottawa on December 17, 1939, the final output of aircrew was expected to reach a peak of 20,864 a year. The revised Plan raised this figure to 50,700; but just as this peak was being reached, the war had changed so materially that it was cut back to about 20,000 a year. Now it is being allowed to tail off, and it seems that in another 18 months or so a very great enterprise will be concluded. All these facts help to explain why it is that in New Zealand pilots who have completed their training on multiengined aircraft have been posted to the reserve immediately they won their wings. But they do not go far enough. It is understandable that New Zealand should be dependent on the varying requirements of supreme policy; but suspension of recruiting, such as is reported from Canada, is a different thing from the discarding of newly-trained pilots. The number affected is not great; but it is reasonable to think that a solution could have been found by the replacement of- men who have served overseas for years, who have long operational records, and who should be entitled to an early start on readjustment to civil life. It is important that R.N.Z.A.F. direction should not lose the confidence of personnel. and there could scarcely be a more disheartening experience than to have studied zealously, achieved the necessary qualifications for “ wings,” and then to be thrown back into civil life. It is unfortunate that the R.N.Z.A.F. should not keep faith even with a few trainees, and Air Commodore Wallingford’s apologia did not meet the situation. The fact that the wastage rate has been lower than that on which plans were based is reassuring and welcome. But obviously there Ls much more behind it all than that. The inference is pretty clear that future policy, of the active use to which the R.N.Z.A.F. is to be put and of future training requirements, is not clearly defined. The time would appear to be more than opportune for an adequate re-

view and a clear pronouncement of what is expected of New Zealand and just what New Zealand is going to do about it. The Government and its advisers have only themselves to blame for the existence of dissatisfaction with the present state of confusion and the general lack of a clear objective.