I have been asked to discuss again the question of
what the common phrase "first-line air-strength" means. What causes surprise, of course, is that the total of the first-line air-strength of the various Great Powers is so strikingly low. There is a good reason for that. What the phrase denotes—I take the last defini- tion given me by an R.A.F. officer—is the number of machines able to take the air at a moment's notice in normal circum- stances, and to be kept at that figure, in spite of a high rate of wastage, through the provision of adequate reserves. The ques- tion of interest, of course, is what proportion first-line strength may be assumed to bear to total numbers. If, for example, Germany is said to have a first-line strength of 5,000 machines (I take the number purely at random), what does that imply in regard to her total strength? I have been given the proportion of I to 9, which would mean a total strength of 45,000. But 6 or 7 to types of machines, including trainers, being reckoned in—would, I think, be much nearer the truth. But there appears to be no recognised standard of proportion. It no doubt varies in different countries.
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