HUGE AIR FORCE FOR EMPIRE

Southland Times, Issue 24764, 8 June 1942, Page 5

HUGE AIR FORCE FOR EMPIRE

ORIGINAL SCHEME EXPANDED (8.0.W.) RUGBY, June 6. The air training agreement, which in the words of the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Mackenzie King, will play its part in building up with certainty and speed air forces of overwhelming and terrifying strength, was signed at Ottawa, today by representatives ot Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Announcing the agreement the secretary of State for the Dominions, Mr C. R. Attlee said it would ensure the continuance of the December 1939 agreement until March 1945, and would provide for its expansion and development. Paying a tribute to Canada he said that the Dominion would hold watch and ward over a vast air training organization fa* bigger than that of the original Plan. . . Mr Mackenzie King, in giving further details of the plan, said the extensive facilities in Canada would continue to be used by all four parties to the agreement. Canada would continue to supply a substantial proportion of the trainees and pupils to be sent from the United Kingdom and various parts of the Empire and from the European members of the United Nations. There would be a single pool of trained personnel ready to be drawn upon if needed. The cost of air training from July 1, 1942 to March 31, 1945 were estimated at almost 1,500,000,000 dollars. Of this sum the United Kingdom would assume 50 per cent., less Australian and New Zealand payments, and Canada the remaining 50 per cent. The United Kingdom’s share of the costs would, as far as practicable, be in the form of the contribution of certain aircraft engines, spare parts and so on. Regarding the preservation of identity under the scheme, Mr McKenzie King said it would be an undertaking that pupils, after training, would be

identified with their respective Dominions where practicable, and applications would be considered for the transfer of individuals to the air forces of their own nationality. EXTENSION”OF PLAN WELCOMED WELLINGTON, June 7. New Zealand’s agreement to the extension of the British Commonwealth’s air training programme to March 1945 was announced tonight by' the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser). “An agreement signed at Ottawa on June 5 by representatives of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand provides for the renewal and extension of the original agreement made in December 1939,” said Mr Fraser, “and I am sure it will be received with the greatest satisfaction. Although the plan remains basically the same the scope of training will be greatly enlarged to meet the demands of the increased scale and complexity of modern operational flying. “The output of trained men under the original scheme has done much to make the Royal Air Force what it is today and the increased scale and severity of our air attacks have been due to the pre-planning of the British Commonwealth in building aircraft of the best quality and training air-crews and ground staffs of equal quality to man and service them. New Zealand will continue to participate to the greatest possible degree in the air training programme and our original commitments will be maintained despite the increased demands for trained air crews to man the additional Royal New Zealand Air Force squadrons now being formed in the Dominion. “Of one thing we can be certain—the quality of the personnel who are receiving their full or initial training in New Zealand. Reports from overseas speak in the highest terms of. our airmen and the fact that to date over 220 awards have been won by New Zealanders is without doubt a remarkable tribute to the calibre of the the men and training they receive. I welcome this new agreement as another important step along the road to victory,” concluded Mr Fraser.