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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0624.PDF
AIRCRAF AND ENGINEER AIRSHIRS FIRST AERONAUTICALIPEEKLYIN THEG1VORLD > FOUNDED IOOO Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Trnditnr, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines . HERTFORD ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971. 260, DEAN8GATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENTIELD ST., GLA8GOW C.2. Telegrams: IliBe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home and Canada: Other Countries: Year. £i 13 o. Year, tl 15 0. 6 months, 16a. 6d. 6 months, 17a. (Id. 3 months, 6a. 6d. 3 months, 8s. 9d. No. 1420. Vol. XXIX. MARCH 12, 1936 Thursdays, Price 6d. Mobilising Industry ACTIVE steps have already been taken to prepare in /\ peace time for that expansion of aircraft produc- / V, tion which would become necessary in time of war. This announcement, made by Lord Swin- ton at the dinner of the Cambridge University Air Squad ron, is a relief from a serious anxiety. The aircraft industry has recently received orders on a scale such as it has never known since the Armistice, and it is developing accordingly. Almost overwhelmed as it is by the orders, the industry is straining every nerve to rise to the occasion, and before long it will be in a position to turn out aircraft, engines, and accessories at a rate which will be quite satisfactory to the Air Min istry. Even so, it must be obvious to any person who studies the subject that in time of war a much larger out put of aircraft will be needed than even the expanded aircraft industry will be able to supply. Fears have been very generally expressed that this vital matter might be left over until it was too late. People have been asking what was the use of multiplying the number of our squadrons and of our immediate reserves of air craft, if after a month or two of warfare a large propor tion of our pilots should be left in possession of no air craft except parachutes. True, a still larger proportion of the enemy's pilots might be in our prisoners-of-war camps while their machines lay in fragments on the ground, but if the enemy could replace his losses and we could not do so the outlook would be gloomy. To make preparations for a larger output than one needs in time of peace is a bold step, for it means pre paring plant which must remain unemployed or only partly employed until the emergency arrives. The reluctance to take such a step must be greater when it is necessary to go outside the regular aircraft industry and persuade other firms to make plans and prepare plant for turning over to aircraft production when needed. Such a step must be expensive, and yet it is ill part of our insurance potocy. Therefore it is most gratify ing to learn from the Secretary of State for Air that the Air Ministry has faced the situation, and has already entered into negotiations with two firms which are accus tomed to production methods on a large scale to prepare plant for aircraft production and to hold it at the dis posal of the Air Ministry. The response of those two firms, said Lord Swinton, has been immediate and public-spirited. It may be presumed that further steps of the same nature will follow in due course. A great deal has been heard of how industry has been organised for the production of warlike material in those countries which rejoice in the rule of dictators. It was one of the points which accentuated the unpleasant uncertainties of the situation. Those countries seemed to hold a trump card which might have emboldened them to bid high in the game of international contract bridge. Britain has now begun to take the step which counters that possible menace, and it is a step the im portance of which cannot easily be overrated. The Air Estimates A FTER the White Paper on Defence, with its start- /\ ling announcements of expansion, modification, / \ and novelties, the Air Estimates come as some thing of an anti-climax. They are concerned more with the wherewithal than with policy. They do not provide moneys for the further expansion an nounced in the said White Paper, as they will have to be voted in Supplementary Estimates. The Estimates merely show what the cost of the Air Force and of civil flying would have been in the present financial year if the Cabinet had not decided upon a further increase in all the defence Services. The net Estimate for 1936 is £39,000,000, while for last year, after including the Supplementary Estimates, the net Estimate was £11,404,000. That is a very healthy increase, but a great deal more will have to be found. It is indeed a very fortunate thing that this country had reached i state of comparative prosperity before the international situation became so acute as to make this great increase of spending an absolute necessity.
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