§ 21. Captain ERSKINE-BOLSTasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air, whether with a view to reducing the number of accidents to Royal Air Force machines, he will consider the advisability of setting up at the Air Ministry an engineering and technical organisation, similar in nature to such organisations possessed by His Majesty's Army and Navy, and under an engineer-in-chief who shall be a member of the Air Council, together with a class of officers specialised in aeronautical engineering from an early age?
§ Sir P. SASSOONIt is the considered policy of the Air Ministry not to set up a separate engineering organisation on the lines suggested in the hon. and gallant Member's question on grounds which it is impossible to state concisely within the limits of a Parliamentary reply. I may, however, point out that engineering duties in the Royal Air Force are performed by officers who have specialised at an early stage of their career. My noble Friend sees no reason to depart from that policy, which has been justified by the progressive improvement over the past decade in the number of fatal accidents in relation to the amount of flying carried out by the Royal Air Force. I may add that there is no evidence that the institution of such an organisation would reduce the number of accidents, only a small proportion of which are due to mechanical failure.