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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0029.PDF
JANUARY 4, 1940. Military Versatility The Breda 88 has been delivered in quantity to Italy's Regia Aeronautica. It can be used for fighting, light bombing, ground attack or reconnaissance. of the 700 h.p. small-diameter units originally fitted. This model, is regarded purely as a twin-engined fighter. Although the Potez and Breguet are of low power accord- ing to present standards, it was, in fact, their compara- tively high power which secured for them their present success. The specification to which they were designed was primarily for a three-seater fighter. Other manufacturers submitted designs for machines built round two Renault or Salmson inverted vee units, but these tenders were eliminated when the specification was altered to allow for the use of the machines for light bombing, reconnaissance and ground attack. :i..-,^.:•'•-':.:••;•. One of the lowest powered of recent multi-purpose machines (we do not consider conversions of civil types) was the Polish P.Z.L. Wilk (Wolf) which could be alter- natively equipped as a two-seater fighter or dive-bomber. The engines were two P.Z.L. Fokas, inverted vee-8s of unstated power, but certainly little more than 400 h.p. A top speed of 288 m.p.h. was claimed and as a fighter the machine was armed with a 20 mm. shell-gun and two machine guns fixed in the nose plus two free machine guns in the rear cockpit. For dive-bombing operations a single large bomb weighing up to 660 lb. was carried externally beneath the fuselage. THE EMPIRE TRAINING SCHEME FURTHER details of the Empire Scheme for the train-ing of pilots, air gunners, radio operators, navigatorsand observers have been made available by the statements of Mr. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, and Mr. F. Jones, Defence Minister of New Zealand. The general idea underlying the scheme is to organise the training of pilots so that it is done almost entirely outside the United Kingdom. This reduces the amount of flying within the area liable to air raids and so helps to leave the air quiet for effective listening by the air-raid warning posts. Training, too, can go on undisturbed by enemy raids. The aerodrome question also is best solved by going overseas, for it appears that this little island will not be able to make available a large number of new aero- drome sites. And a large number will be required— Canada alone will build 60 new ones. The area of England is 51,000 sq. miles while Canada is 3,600,000—about 70 times as great. Australia is not quite so big, being 3,000,000 sq. miles, 60 times the area of England. Rela- tive populations are: England, 37^ million ; Canada, ioi million ; and Australia, 7 million. The advantage of weather too is with Canada; in fact, any of the Dominions have climates more suitable for fly- ing than England. Canada has a very cold winter and the aerodromes may frequently be snow-covered, but this can be dealt with by snow-plough and roller, so providing a hard surface on which the ordinary wheel undercarriage can operate. Ski undercarriages will not be necessary. Australia is even better off for flying weather than Canada as fogs are seldom encountered. But obviously Australia is too far away to be chosen as the centre of the scheme. Cajiada's part in the scheme starts off with the estab lishment of 67 training schools, the building of 60 new aerodromes and the enlargement of 20 existing ones. Of the schools, three will be large schools for initial training, 16 will be service flying schools, 10 observer schools, 10 bombing and gunnery, 2 navigation, and 4 will be radio schools. These will be staffed with 40,000 men of whom 2,700 will be commissioned officers, 6,000 civilians, and 30,000 men engaged on servicing and other duties. The provisional estimate of cost for the whole scheme for 3^ yeaxs is £150,000,000, Canada's contribution being about £90,000,000. As reported in our issue of December 21, on page 513, a board to control training and finance will be set up and will consist of the Canadian Ministers for Finance and Transport, representatives of Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia, the Chief of the Canadian Air Staff and the Deputy Minister for Air. New Zealand's contribution is just as great in proportion to her size. With a population of only i| million and an area of 102,000 square miles (twice that of England), she expects to train 10,000 men in the scheme. Elementary training will be done in the Dominion itself, followed by advanced training in Canada. The cost of the work to be done in New Zealand will be £12,700,000 spread over three years, in addition to a total of £7,000,000 to be paid to- wards the cost of the Canadian part of the scheme. The details of the part to be played by Australia "have already been reported on page 519 of our December 21 issue, but for convenience of readers it is repeated that 26,000 men will be trained, of whom 10,400 will be pilots and 15,600 gunners, observers and radio operators. Thirty- four new training schools will be established and elementary trainers (Tiger Moths) and intermediate trainers (Wirra- ways) will be supplied by the Dominion. Over three years the cost to be borne by Australia will be £A5o,ooo,ooo. Men will be sent from the United Kingdom to Canada to be trained under the scheme, and Great Britain will supply most of the aircraft needed. To Australia she will supply engines for the elementary trainers, part of the cost of the Wirraway trainers and all the Fairey Battles and Avro Ansons, which will be used as advanced trainers. Replace- ments and spare parts will also be sent out. Canada, like Australia, will be able to manufacture some of her needs in aircraft, but most will come from Great Britain. New Zealand as yet has no aircraft manufacturing industry as it would be impossible to justify it economically. The standard of training to be adopted is that of the full syllabus of the Central Flying School, and it is intended that the squadrons formed shall retain their Dominion character by being composed of Dominion men and being given names with Dominion associations.
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