Tu view of the Joint defence needs of Britain and France in Counier-beloneing the European Situation, much siguitcance, it tached te the visit. to London of M. Guy La Chambre, the French Air Minister," who has" been. holding discussions Sir "Kingsley Wood, the British Secretary of State for Alr, and RAF, leaders. There has been a frank exchange of information over a wide field regarding production efforts and the co-ordina tion of future arrangements, and the alr defence situation as regards both countries has: been thoroughly investigated for the Impression ig now firmly embedded that in the event of European conflict involving France, to whom Britain is now firmly committed, British alr sseistance in the initial stage will probably exceed the military effort. During the September crisis of last year, it was persistently reported that while British military assistance was somewhat limited by the swift development of events and a lag in rearmament, the alr as~ sistance from an aerial point of view was more definite and RAF. squadrons were standing by available for duty in France if the necessity arose. An extension of this form of assistance consequently follows the emphasis on air re= "armament which received an impetus from those apprehensive days. An interesting point in the discussions, although receiving no official con-Brmation, "is the possibility' of transporting troops to the Continent by air. Aeroplane troop carriers are not a new idea but intensification fof efforts in this direction have increased the Potentialities of this form of trans-Port. The landing of men as spies or. Sabotteurs was" widely" practised during the Great War and for some years Soviet Russia has concentrated on training special forces which may be dropped from aeroplanes by parachutes, complete with constitute units of useful size ions. As many as 1,000 men at a time have been dropped and although the capacity and number of the aeroplanes limits the size of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.