AIR STRENGTH
ANSWERS TO CRITICISM IN BRITAIN STATEMENTS MADE IN BOTH HOUSES. PROGRESS OF EXPANSION PROGRAMME. (Recd This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, May 12. Lord Winterton, in the House of Commons, detailing Royal Air Force expansion, said the first line strength of the Home squadrons would reach 2,370 by March, 1940, overseas squadrons 490 and the fleet airm arm 500. The aggregate strength in first line planes would approach 3,500. The number of officers and men in the Air Force before the expansion was 50,000. At present it was 70,000. He denied that the Royal Air Force machines were inferior to those of other countries. Firms were being given orders enabling them to plan ahead. Thirty additional aerodromes were required. Lord Swinton, in the House of Lords, replying to criticisms of the Air Force expansion, said there had been a shortage of skilled labour because the programme coincided with an expansion of ordinary trade, but the number employed in the aircraft industry had increased from 30,000 in 1936, to over 90,000. It had been said that men were being discharged, but firms could not always employ the same number of employees.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1938, Page 7
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191AIR STRENGTH Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1938, Page 7
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