AIR DEFENCE OF PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 23199, 14 May 1937, Page 6

AIR DEFENCE OF PACIFIC

BOMBERS STATIONED AT SINGAPORE LONDON, May 4. Under Britain’s new Pacific air defence plans, bombers will be stationed at Singapore which, in the event of an attack on Australia, could be rushed to Darwin at 200 miles an hour in one hop. Other machines could be flown from Burma in two days and from India in two and a-half days. Barracks and aerodromes are being built in Malaya at a cost of £1,500,000. When the Empire’s capital is sufficiently equipped with fighter and interceptor squadrons, which are now being built at full speed, Britain will concentrate on her air defences in the Pacific and the Mediterranean. It is expected that the home defence programme will be completed this year, and that the new squadrons will be established at Hong Kong, Singapore and in Ceylon in 1938. The Pacific squadrons will consist of long range bombers and flying-boats. Details of their performance are secret, but it is known that they are the world’s most formidable attacking craft. Reconnaissance flights are likely to be carried out this year in Malaya, Ceylon, India and China, to test the practicability of rushing flying-boats to a Pacific base from which to harry lines of communication of an attacking fleet. The new aerodrome at Hong Kong, called Kaitak, has been completed, and a second aerodrome at Patheung has been started. Votes for air defences in the Pacific will be included in the next estimates.