The complaint current in Australia that Royal Air Force communiquis
are over-optimistic and unreliable, and that the full truth about encounters with the enemy ought to be told, is, I believe, quite unjustified. I myself made full enquiry on this very point in several quarters recently—before the Australian complaints were published—and reached the con- clusion that the R.A.F. communiquis could be accepted without hesitation. In one case, as I learned from three or four different informants, an inaccurate figure was published. An air-battle had taken place, and when the first British machines returned to their stations the first enquiries led to the belief that we had lost x aeroplanes and the Germans y. The papers were clamouring for news, and these not com- pletely verified figures were released. Later it was found that the British loss was more than x and the German loss more than y, the ratio between the two not being greatly altered. In the circumstances it was decided, I think un- wisely, not to issue revised figures. But the original state- ment was made in entire good faith, and I believe, as I say, that this is the only case in which there has been any inaccuracy at all.
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