NEW R.A.F. ARM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 59, 12 March 1943, Page 5

NEW R.A.F. ARM

AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND “FREEDOM~oF SKIES” IN PROSPECT Recd. 11 p.m. London, March 10. Ferry Command and the British Overseas Airways Corporation are likely to be fused into the R.A.F. Air Transport Command, either as a new command or by considerably enlarging Ferry Command’s scope, says the Daily Telegraph’s aviation correspondent. Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill, who commands Ferry Command, is mentioned as first officer commanding Air Transport Command. The prime role of the new command will be to reinforce the Army, Navy and R.A.F. overseas to meet urgent needs. A secondary role may be mass bombing. The new command’s initial planes will include the British Overseas Airways Corporation’s Clippers. Liberators, Sunderlands and Whitleys, which will later be augmented by converted bombers such as the York and others not yet in the picture.

The Times, in a leader, says: “The United States has become the Allied air-carrier and is likely to remain such until the end of the war. That must be so, but it may be hoped that the establishment, of Air Transport Command will stimulate the planning of British production on the right lines. Freedom of the skies requires definition. The time to act is now. Mr. Wallace, disowning the idea of imperialistic American supremacy by air and sea. declared that such supremacy was likely to make a third world war certain. Victory will be fruitless, without pooling for peace, but poolinsr cannot be achieved unless the foundations for agreement are laid now.”