More and More Aircraft
The 'main" impression given by the British aircraft induqr at this moment is one of tremendous spate. Year after ye the Farnborough air display has produced its astonishing arra of new. types.. The .orders for aircraft in production steadil mount. And now in a single week we have had the relea of the first particulars of the new HP 80 bomber and announcements that three types of civil aircraft—the Corn the Viscount and the Britannia—are to be given " supe priority" in production so as to ensure the quick fulfilme of export orders. The Minister of Supply is clearly deterinin to make hay while the sun shines, and he is clearly right to so. The best way to maintain the British lead in aircraft desi is to move quickly in the development and exploitation of existing successes. Even if those successes were a mere flash the pan—and there is no evidence that they are anything the kind—it would still be good policy to devote the maximu possible resources to an industry which is so clearly able make good use of them. This is the right answer to tho persons, whoever they may be, who are said to have doub about the advisability of placing substantial orders for t HP 80 when two other new types of bomber—the Vicke Valiant and the Avro Vulcan—are already on order for R.A.F. The present aim is different from the war-time ai We have _now to find the best bomber by giving a full trial all of the most promising candidates. It is only when trial is complete, or when the existence of an actual emergen increases the need for mass production of aircraft, that co centration on a narrow range of types becomes advisabl
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