FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0606.PDF
232 FLIGHT. MARCH II, *937- Gross Estimate Deduct Fleet Air Arm grant Deduct Other Appropria- tkms-in-aid Net Estimate, apart from Loan provision 1934, including Supple mentary Estimate. 1 20,365,600 1,338,000 1.266.600 17,761,000 1935, including Supple mentary Estimates. £ •31,002.100 1,993,000 1;413,100 27,596,000 1936, including Supple mentary Estimate. - £ aa, 705,600 3,572,000 1,433,600 50,700,000 Deduct Loan provision Net Estimate to be voted, 1937... 1937. i 88,588,C80 4,200,00(1 1.88*,G0O 82,500,000 26,000,000 £56.500.000 THE AIR ESTIMATES £33,000,000 More than Last Year's : Fleet Air Arm Grant Up by Nearly One Million : £29,000,000 for Aircraft and Engines A S was expected, the Air Estimates for 1937, issued last /\ Friday, showed very considerable increases both in •* V the number of personnel and in the sums to be voted for air defence. The gross totals are, perhaps, of most interest in that they show what the country is spend ing on air equipment. For 1937 *fle gross figure is £88,588,600 against a gross total of £55.705.600 in 1936. liy the end of this year the personnel of the R.A.F. will 1 jtal 70,000. Appropriations-in-aid and the grant for the Fleet Air Arm will reduce the amount to be borne by the Air Votes to £82,500,000. As usual, the Air Estimates were accompanied by a Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Air, Lord Swinton. The first part of this Memorandum was devoted to a review of the various decisions of the Government en air defence, and showed the steps by which from time to time the successive expansion schemes resulted in the present position. After mentioning certain delays in the delivery of air frames, the Memorandum continues: — "A large measure of reliance had necessarily to be placed on the forecasts of the manufacturing 'firms, and these fore casts have proved in practice to have been too optimistic. Even so, in spite of the fact that the greatly increased capacity of the factories is only partly evidenced by the output up to date, actual deliveries of Service aircraft during the last 11 months amount to over i\ times, and of engines over 3J times the "average annual pre-expansion output. The number of persons employed in the aircraft industry has increased to 63,000 and it must be borne in mind that this figure takes no' account of the mam- thousands of persons employed in the production of armament and equipment or by firms en gaged on ancillary work for the aircraft industry. '' Substantial progress has also been made in other direc tions. On April 1st, 1937, the Royal Air Force will comprise loo squadrons stationed at home, the equivalent of 20 squadrons serving with the Fleet Air Arm, and 26 squadrons serving over seas. The strength of the Royal Air Force will have .risen to 4,850 officers and 51,000 airmen. Flying training is now carried out at 13 civil flying schools, in addition to the Service Flying Training Schools, the number of which has been in creased from four to eleven. Increases have also been made in the other training and maintenance establishments. "On the industrial side, additions have been made at existing aircraft manufacturing firms, and in order to broaden the basis of production, certain firms have, with Air Ministry approval, entered into agreements with firms outside the in dustry, which will enable the resources of these latter to be used for the production of aircraft, In addition, a number of firms have agreed to erect and manage "shadow- " factories for the Government. Six factories for the manufacture of engines are in course of erection, and most of these will be completed within a few months. One airframe factory is Hear ing completion, and work on the second has commenced. New- factories are also being established for the manufacture of air screws and certain types of bombs," Other noteworthy points from the Estimates were as follows: — Financial Summary Air Estimates for 1937 amount to a total of £88,885,600gross, after making due allowance for underspendings which experi ence has shewn to be necessary-. The comparable total for 1936 was £55,705,600 including the additional sum granted by Supplementary Estimate in July last. The net total is £56,500,000. Allowance has been made for a special appropriation-in-aid of £"26,000,000 from the Consoli dated Fund under the conditions explained in the~ Statement relating to Defence Expenditure (Cmd. 5374) and. but for this, the net total of the Votes for 1937 would have been £82,500,000. The corresponding net figure for 1936 was £50,700,000. so that the true net increase is £31,800.000. The comparative figures for recent years are shewn in the following tabic. Strength and Organisation of the R.A.F. The present scheme of expansion provides, inter alia, for a Metropolitan Air Force with a first-line strength of approxi mately 1,750 aircraft. These will be organised in 124 squad rons, of which 100 will have been formed by the end of March. During the summer the number will rise to 124 squadrons, in cluding 20 squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force, with an ap proximate first-line strength of 1,500 aircraft. These 124 squadrons will subsequently be increased in size to give the necessary' total first-line strength of 1,750 aircraft. It is also proposed to create ten special units of the Auxiliarv Air Force for operating a balloon barrage in con nection with the defence scheme for the London area. The work of organisation is proceeding ; orders for the necessary balloons and equipment have been placed, and deliveries are already being received. One of the additional squadrons for overseas was formed in 1936, bringing the overseas strength to 26 squadrons. Provision is taken for increasing the Fleet Air Arm from 217 to 278 first-line aircraft during the course of the yea.-, in conformity with Admiralty requirements for aircraft earners and catapult ships. Personnel and Training Vote 1 (Pay, etc., of the Royal Air Force) stands at £8,466,000 net, an increase of £1,776,000 over the correspond ing provision for 1936. The programme for the entry over a two-year period of some 2.500 pilots and over 22,000 airmen, is now substantially com plete. For the year 1937, entries of 1,500 pilots and some 15,000 airmen are required. The results which have so far attended the efforts to recruit personnel of high quality in these large numbers are a tribute to the air enthusiasm and patriotism of the younger generation, and the more difficult task of maintaining recruiting at a high level in numbers and in qualitv can be faced with reasonable expectation of success. The training of pilots has proceeded with marked success, though this has only been possible by sustained efforts on the part of the 13 civil schools and the 11 Service schools on which the work has fallen. Both types of school have proved equal to the demands made upon them, which include not only more intensive living instruction than in the past, but also more advanced training in instrument flying, night flying, navigation and training in air gunnerv and bombing. The growing im portance of navigational training has also been recognised in the creation of a new School of Air Navigation at Manston. Auxiliary Air Force Vote 7 (Auxiliarv and Reserve Forces) stands at a net total of £^,360,000, which represents an increase of £709,000 ov Following the policy announced in 1936, four out of i:ie five Special Reserve squadrons have been converted to . - ary Air Force squadrons, and the necessary steps tor con __ sion of the remaining squadron are under consideration. ' additional Auxiliary Air Force squadrons are also oe e formed, and the Force will then consist of 20 squadron:5. is also to be noted that the balloon barrage organisation ^ lined earlic-r in this Memorandum will be estabhsliea u Auxiliary Air Force basis.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
