Civil aviation, he declared, was short of aircraft and funds, but they could be proud of the part they had played in the rearmament programme. They had over 40 licensed aerodromes, and many others, Every One of them was being used, or would shortly be used, for purposes of the R.A.F. volunteer reserve, The facilities civil aviation had been able to provide had made possible the vast increases in the number of pilots which had recently taken place.
Air Vice Marshal T. L. Leigh-Mallory said that today they realized the enormous debt they owed to industrial centres like Birmingham, and the effort which had been made in recent months to provide essential equipment, Notable strides had been made, and the gaps in Britain's defence of last Autumn had, for the main part, been filled in:
He thought that the British defence system would gravely shake the morale of any attacking air force, so much so that, after the first attempt, the full volume of attack would be reduced to a small trickle.
During the last 18 months, the Air Vice Marshal added, the three services had been forging a shield of defence which was immensely strong, and its very strength would mean that it. would neve". have to be put into operation.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.