CANADIAN DEFENCES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 142, 19 June 1939, Page 9

CANADIAN DEFENCES

NEW AIR BASES. OTTAWA (By Mail). Germany’s attempt to obtain permission to establish an air base in Iceland caused a mild flurry in Canadian defence circles and in Parliament. Nervous people feared the possibility of a German air invasion from the lonely island in the North Atlantic. Defence Minister lan Mackenzie assured a questioner in the House of Commons that it was the intention of the Government to take “aggressive steps” to strengthen Canadian air defence on the Atlantic coast. The Minister did not enlarge upon his statement but it was recalled that this year’s estimates for the Defence Department made provision for 2,000,000d0l .to be spent on military air bases in Nova Scotia. Canadian aviation experts pointed out an Iceland air base would be only about 1500 flying miles from vital harbours and mining and industrial centres of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The shipping lanes of the St. Lawrence River to Quebec and Montreal are within an even shorter flight from Iceland. Canada's capital and th'* heavy industrial centres, such as Montreal and Toronto, are about 200 to 2500 miles from a hypothetical Iceland bombers’ nest. Some weeks ago Opposition Leader Robert Manion warned the House of Commons of Canada’s vulnerability to attack from the Arctic. Planes operating from an aircraft carrier or mother ship in Hudson Bay could easily bomb the important International Nickel plant at Sudbury, Ont. The same planes might also threaten electrical power development plants at Abitibi dam in Northern Ontario and at Niagara Falls, he suggested.

Increasing Defences. The Dominion, however, has been bolstering her air force for a couple of years. A squadron of Hawker Hurricane fighters capable of 350 miles ar hour and armed with eight machineguns each will be stationed shortly or the western prairies and could fly tc intercept bombers flying down frorr the Arctic. Big twin-engined Stranraer coasta reconnaissance flying boats are undci construction at Montreal and two have already been sent to their base ir Nova Scotia to patrol the Atlantic coast line. Other plane factories ir Canada are busy turning out a variety of planes for the air force and the army is strengthenirlg coastal artillery bases on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.