OUTLAY OF £256,000,000

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22321, 12 April 1944, Page 3

OUTLAY OF £256,000,000

AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BIG INCREASE IN STRENGTH MELBOURNE, April 11 By the end of January £256,000,000 had been expended on the Royal Australian Air Force, said the Minister of Air, Mr A. S. Drakeford, today. This figure excluded expenditure on behalf of the United States Forces and on joint AustralianAmerican projects. The Empire air training scheme alone had cost Australia £86,473,000 at the end of June, 1943.

Since the beginning of the Allied offensive in New Guinea, the Minister added, the strength of the Royal Australian Air Force had grown by 437 per cent. Royal Australian Air Force aircraft operating in the Southwest Pacific area had flown 450,000,000 miles and had been airborne for more than 3,500,000 hours.

By the end of February, 1944, Allied and Australian aircraft in this area had destroyed 3529 enemy aircraft in combat or on the ground, probably destroyed 989 and damaged 899. In the last quarter of 1943 1237 enemy aircraft were destroyed—almost as many as in the rest of the year.

Also bv the end of February Australian airmen in all theatres of the war won 1548 decorations and awards.

The Royal Australian Air Force was now more than 30 times its prewar strength. It was continuing to expand, its strength being increased by more than 25 per cent in 1943 compared with 1942. Meanwhile Royal Australian Air * Force squadrons now based in the United Kingdom had flown 78,304 hours, covering 12,500,000 miles in more than 14,000 sorties. The lastmentioned figures applied only to squadrons now operating in the United Kingdom. They took no accuont of units transferred to other theatres or of the great numbers of Australians serving in the Royal Air Force units.