§ Mr. Perkinsasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he will state the total number of persons employed in the accidents investigation department of the Air Ministry and how many of these have flown modern Service aeroplanes during the last 12 months?
Captain BalfourThere are seven investigating officers (of whom the Chief Inspector is one) and three clerical personnel in the Accidents Branch. All the investigating officers have wide technical knowledge and experience of various types of aircraft, have themselves been pilots and have flown in, though they may not actually have piloted, different types of modern aeroplanes during the last 12 months. Users' experience of the flying characteristics of different types of Service aircraft is, of course, at all times available to them through the Royal Air Force.