FLEET AIR ARM.

HC Deb 19 May 1938 vol 336 c604W

Captain Plugge

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the relative strength of our naval air service and how this compares with those of the United States, Japan and Germany?

Mr. Cooper:

The strength of the Fleet Air Arm is 214 aircraft. The figures for the foreign countries are:

United States	…	…	705*
Japan	…	…	271
Germany	…	…	16

^* Including 198 flying boats attached to the Fleet.

The figures given for foreign countries exclude land-based aircraft.

Captain Plugge

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the relative strength of the Fleet Air Army of the Navy at the present time and the strength of the arm at the same time in 1937?

Mr. Cooper:

The first-line strength of the Fleet Air Arm is at present 214 aircraft; the corresponding strength last year was 204 aircraft. No material increase in the first-line strength of the Fleet Air Arm can, of course, be made until the new aircraft carriers and other warships carrying aircraft, are completed.