In the House of Commons recently the Secretary of State for Air was asked which country now possesses the most powerfully equipped Air force. In reply he stated that the comparative assessment of air strength is most difficult to caleu-
on numbers of squadrons, machines, late, depending, as it does, not only and personnel, but on relative efficiency of armament and fighting power.
At the Washington Conference a Sub-Committee on Aircraft prepared tables showing the authorized and actual air strength of the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan. These tables have not been published hitherto, in this country, but, in view of the Air Minister's reply referred to above, they are summarized below. At the same time it should be pointed out that there are many gaps in the tables, which, in the absence of explanation regarding certain of the figures quoted, seem to indicate that the Sub-Committee encountered the same difficulty as that mentioned by Captain Guest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.