. BRITAIN’S BID TO RULE IHE AIR I

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 245, 17 October 1939, Page 5

. BRITAIN’S BID TO RULE IHE AIR I

I GOAL 1000 PLANES A MONTH I t It THE "SHADOW PLANTS” ABSORB ![ THOUSANDS OF HANDS j; I r _ |c If

Britain has expanded its airplane production to a level of 700 planes al month, with an expected production of 1000 planes a month by the end of , the year, declares the American Machinist, in its August number. /although much speculation attaches 1i to varying reports of German airplane ] uction. the journal declares. Bri- L tain’s production figures have now L caught up with those of Germany, and 1 are increasing at a much more rapid [■ [pace. Nearly 200,000 workers are pushing! I British aircraft output to record, ; levels. This is almost as many workj ers as. are employed in the entire] British automobile and motor-cycle j industry. The Gloster Aircraft Com-(. , pany alone has boosted nay rolls from 400 workers in 1934 to 6400 at the be- i I ginning of 1939. and this will jump! to 8000 by the end of the year. All the beginning of 1939 British plane' production was about 500 a month. i j Sells Planes to France British aircraft production and' Britain's confidence in its ability to. 'meet domestic aircraft demands have [reached the point where air author!-1 [ties have recently agreed to supply [France with sizable numbers of RollsRoyce Merlin engines pending their [production under license by the ; French Ford Company. In April, moi cover, some Spitfire fighters, the latest type to be made, were sold to

if , England has used a four-fold plan I for expanding its aircraft production. 1 The first is its extension of existing! [aircraft plants by guaranteeing Io manufacturers that the Government j. [would meet standing charges if the . I demand should prove insufficient to . keep the factories fully occupied after Q [completion of the armament pro[gramme and if the company has not. .• been able to write off the capital cost of the extensions. o i Second is ihe so-called “shadowC [plant” scheme whereby industries, ] f iparticularly in the aircraft and autc-i ’mobile fields, built supplementary fac-| s I tories at Government expense and|7 | agreed to operate them for the Gov- fi lernment. On July 1. 1939. 31 shadow j j factories had been built or were undei construction. Of the 16 of these for 'which the Air Ministry is responsible, [ll are in full production already thy August) and the twelfth is nearing I capacity output. r| Subcontracting Scheme 1 I The third project for boosting out- r put was the organisation of a sub- i contracting scheme on a large scale r by the Vickers combine, whereby 3aoo £ companies whose plants were not fully n occupied on their normal products, a were employed in the manufacture of aircraft parts. [ The latest development in the pio- r duction plan is the group scheme c comprising groups of four or five air- t craft firms. Each group is regarded ‘ c

■as a separate unit for both develop- | ment and production purposes with the double object of reducing the j number of designs in service and 1 facilitating economical and quality production. Figures given for British output of military planes make no allowance for future production in Canada or other parts of the Empire, the article states. •Steps were taken during the visit of the recent Air Mission to Australia and New Zealand to organise manufacture of military aircraft in Australia on an ultimate basis of 800 units a year, and it also recommended production of planes in New Zealand. These two countries would supply a considerable part of the requirements of the British air squadrons in the Far East. Designs are Secret Though details of new types of English airplanes are kept much longer than formerly, mass production, has in no way held back developments of new designs. Performance figures are available only for planes now in full production. The Hawker Hurricane fighter has a maximum speed of 340 m.p.h., and the Supermarine Spitfire 362 m.p.h. The fastest German fighters in service are reported to possess a top speed of 320 m.p.h. It is said that the new Hoinkel lighter will travel 440 m.p.h. There have been developed in England, however, the Boulton Paul Defiant and Gloster planes, which are considerably in advance of ihe Spitfire in speed. Comparison between bombers is not easy, since figures for bomb load and range are not published in England. The German trend is toward construction of twin-engined bombers of high speed but- low carrying power and range. Principal emphasis in England is on long range. The Germans do not have a bomber as fast as Ihe Bristol Blenheim (297 m.p.h.) which i* now superseded by the Beaufort with a higher speed and carrying power. Some authorities estimate the output of British training planes al nearly one-third of the current production of 700 a month. The other two-thirds are more or less evenly divided between bombers and fighters.