War in the Air Sir Kingsley Wood's review of the
work of the Air Force serves to remind us of the incessant activity which is the all- important background to such occasional feats as the raid on Wilhelmshaven or the flight over Berlin. We have to think not only of reconnaissance flights far into Germany, of work in conjunction with the French forces in photographing the Siegfried line, of spectacular engagements, but also of the routine work of the Coastal Command in the search for submarines or the protection of convoys, and of the perpetual watchfulness of the Fighter Command at home ready at any moment to engage raiders. Sir Kingsley Wood necessarily spoke with more reticence of the production of aircraft, but it is clear that though time must still elapse before we have actually more craft in service than Germany, our latest aeroplanes are better than hers, and our already high and rapidly increasing rate of production is such that ultimate superiority even in numbers is certain. The schemes for Dominion co-operation are reassuring. The plan for com- pleting the training of pilots in schools in Canada and on a smaller scale in Australia is a new, imaginative and highly promising development, which, while it will produce a large, steady supply of pilots for Europe, will at the same time equip the Dominions themselves with powerful air- forces for their own protection.
