§ 50. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Defence whether he will investigate the arrangements made by the Royal Air Force and the Army for the maintenance of Auster A.O.P. aircraft to see whether tile maintenance could be carried out by the Army to avoid waste of the limited skilled manpower in the Royal Air Force.
§ Sir W. MoncktonI have no reason to think that the existing arrangements are wasteful of skilled manpower.
§ Mr. de FreitasWill the right hon. and learned Gentleman please look at the matter again? Is not the Auster the simplest of all aircraft? Do not many 1213 people believe that the skilled men available in Army units using Austers could easily be used for first-line maintenance of the aircraft instead of there being R.A.F. units attached expressly for the purpose?
§ Sir W. MoncktonThe conclusion reached hitherto has been that the Army could not service the Auster with fewer men or with less-skilled personnel than the R.A.F. use. I am not persuaded that there is any waste, but I will certainly look at the matter again.