The keel of H.MS. Indomitable be tald at the Vickers Armstrons yard at Barrow, this making the Atth atreratt carrier under constuc~ ion for the Royal avy. Of thee Royal, begun two years ag0, should be ready next July.
The tonnage of Ark Royal Is to be 22500 She will carry as many as 10) aeroplanes and will be armed with} 43 lich A, A. guns.
'With the transfer from Air Ministry to Admiralty of the contro! of the Fleet Air Arm, the strength of the! latter is to be at least doubled, and modern aircraft' will be substituted for ait now in service that are not The present establishment of frst-me aircraft in British men-of-war is 217, of which about 140 are borne fireratt carriers, 32 In catapult-Jequipped battleships and cruisers, and) the remainder at shore stations." Excluding the Argus, which has been re-tted for use as a "mother ship" for radio-controlled target aeroplanes, the carriers now in service have total capacity of 105 aeroplanes.
Biplane or Monoplane Unt recently the biplane has been generally favoured for use with naval fir arms, because of ils smaller: overall dimensions and the ease with, which Ils wings may be folded for quick handling and compact stowage. Now the superior performance Jachieved by modern monoplane con struction Is becoming available for naval use, ingenious wing-folding devices and clever detail design having eliminated most of its drawbacks, though the biplane may be ex-ceted fo continue in service, If in smaller numbers, with the fleets of [the world for many years to come. Large numbers of the new Blackburn [Skua monoplane are on order for the: fleet Air Arm.
'The biplane, on the other hand, appears likely' to remain in favour or some years on some catapult equipped warships, The Vickers Supermarine Walrus, a biplane. amphibious Aying-beal driven single Bristol Pegasus engine mounted to drive a "pusher" airscrew, is now
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.