85. Lieut.-Colonel Sir FREDERICK HALLasked the Secretary of State for Air whether, with regard to the contract covering several years which has been entered into for the supply of American parachutes for the Royal Air Force, he will give particulars of the contract and state the reasons for entrusting the 1374 supply of the parachutes to a foreign firm?
§ Sir S. HOAREThe particulars of the contract in question, except as regards price, which it is not the practice to disclose, are these: The contract was for a total of 2,261 parachutes, of which 1,500 were to be manufactured in America, it being stipulated that the balance and any further supplies should be manufactured in Great Britain, preferably under license. Supplies of American manufacture are now coming in, and it is expected that supplies from the home source will begin to come forward by next July. As regards the last part of the question, the Irving parachute, which was adopted as the most suitable, is a proprietary article, and as the supply was very urgently needed and as no risk of possibly imperfect manufacture by an inexperienced firm could be run where a life-saving apparatus was in question, it was considered inadvisable to entrust the order to any firm other than the Irving Company.
86. Sir F. HALLasked the Secretary of State for Air what is the number of accidents which have taken place in the Royal Air Force during the 12 months ended 30th September, 1925, due to machines crashing, and how many lives have thereby been lost; in the case of how many of these accidents were parachutes available for the use of the crew in the event of things going wrong; and if he will state whether any machines are now allowed to go up unequipped with parachutes?
§ Sir S. HOAREThe word accidents is a wide one and would cover a large number of minor mishaps, in landing or otherwise, to which I assume my hon. and gallant Friend is not referring. On the assumption that fatal accidents are referred to, the answer to the first part of the question is 42 accidents, involving 57 deaths; to the second, that in no case were the machines actually equipped with parachutes, although some units, in which no serious accidents happened to occur, were so equipped in August and September; to the last, that provision is now being made, as speedily as possible, for the equipment of the whole Air Force with parachutes, on the basis of one parachute for every seat in an aircraft, but this provision is not yet complete.
Sir F. HALLCan the right hon. Gentleman say how long it will probably be before each seat is provided with a parachute?
§ Sir S. HOAREI am afraid I cannot give my hon. and gallant Friend a definite answer as to the date. I am expediting as far as I can the delivery of orders from America and the preparation of the machines to take the parachutes here.