German flights over Britain and France and Allied flights over Germany point to the forthcoming intensification of aerial warfare. The increasing tempo of this type of activity is illustrated by the widespread character of these flights and their frequency during the past days. It cannot be said. with any reliability that the threat of large-scale air raids made by Marshal Goering in his New Year message, predicated on Hitler's permission to start, is being fulfilled because the present scale of air warfare compared with the large fleets the belligerents possess is relatively feeble. What doss appear possible is that the ground is being prepared for the execution of this plan, and the Allies, with deliberate and certain precaution, are preparing for counter measures to Hitler's threat. These flights, outside the usual patrols based on defence necessities, are accustoming the pilots to conditions which might more usefully ba exploited at future dates, and when the time comes the Allies will be ready to receive and to return in even greater measure anything the German air force has to offer. Germany is conceded to possess the largest individual air force and her production in numbers is probably tha highest, but it is also probable that by now the joint efforts of France and Britain are superior, while a huge reservoir of supplies exists in the United States available only to the Allies. This year's orders with American factories is estimated at 10,000 machines, and there is every likelihood that the United States will be able to provide at least 1,000 machines a month as the aircraft industry expands under the influence of war orders. Technically, the comparative merits of the German Messerschmitts and the British Hurricanes and Spitfires have received much public attention but nothing has yet occurred to disprove the superiority of the British machines which possess all the speed of the favo! German models with the additional advantage of a higher degree of manceuvrability. As the war progresses there will be vast improvements on the existing extraordinarily fast and efficient types, but it zan be said without any sense of national egotism that British aircraft builders will not be left behind in the race. The Air Ministry has already announced the development of a new fast long-range fighting plane which is now in production in numbers which will surprise the enemy when the time for their employment arrives, the Air Ministry believes. British official bulletins rarely boast of anticipat tions, the general policy being rather to await definite realization of plans before indulging in congratulations, but this statement is a plain and confident indication of what Britain is able to do in the air.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.