The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-07-30
Great Britain Ready
 To Fight Nazi Threat
tcontInued Rrom Pase D

(Coutlnueu forming British planes. Adoption by ner1nany of centralized system of control for her air force and new dofensss foreshadowed aerial war fare such as the world had never dreamed of. But the British govern ment was forced to tell Haig there was no possibility of meeting his re- quest.
 Twenty-three years later. as Ger man bombs blasted the semi-defense- less Allied armies out of Norway Britain again faced the same fun damental problem of supply
 10000 Planes Monthly
 Preparing to repel any invasion, Britain's defense hiefs are now de- manding, not 120 planes, but a steady stream of 10000 or more planes a month-as many as the factorise of Britain, Canada and the United States can squeze into their pro- duction schedules.
 Generalization of command in air operations, and an organization capable of supervising experimenta- ton, production and distribution of the most powerful fighting machines and of maintaining vast numbers constantly available, are the all- important factors in aerial warfare, according to British air experts. And there have been suggestions that, had Britain's air chiefs had the ul- timate power of decision in the RATS peacetime policies, the battles for Norway and Flanders might have had a different outcome.
 Britain's modern air force was born April i, 1918. Since the incep- tion of the royal flying corps in l99l2. the n ation's military and naval wings, originally intended to be mu- tually self-sufficient but under a central control, had drifted apart and become intent upon their own administrative and strategic prob- lens, even to the extent of compet- ing against each other for planes and equipment.
 Bf1Gan SCarcO 1uLU ACtiUh
 aaig's letter calling attention to the acute supply situation was irl- strumental in providing centralized World war production control in the form of second air board, but 1t was not until the following June that a second incident startled Brit ain into realization of the fact that centralized productnon was not in itself sufficient.
 On June 13, 1917, mass formations of German Gothas, in a daylight raid. dropped four tons of bombs on London. In this foretaste of total warfare, for which Britain was en- tirely rlnprepared, 162 persons were killed and 432 were injured.
 Only central command, 1t be- came apparent, could enable the air force to provide adequate defense of industrial objectoives at home, carry out reprisal raids on Germany and fulfill its major function as "the army's long-range artillery"
 Air Ministry Born
 In November, 1917, the air board was expanded into an air ministry authorized to effect amalgamation of the air services.
 The RATS organization is the simplest of the three branches of the armed services. It is divided into seven independent commands under an air chief marshal or air marshal each of whom is directly responsible to the chief of the air staff, Ali Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall.
 Of the seven, the bomber anc fighter commands are the senior units The bomber command is re- sponsible for controlling administra- tiou of all home bomber squadrons forming the striking force of the metropolitan air force, and the fight CT command is charged with defense of the home shores from all forms of hostile air attack. The latter works in close haison with anti-air craft. searchlight, balloon barrage and observation units.
 The coastal command is reSpon- sible for reconnaissance over home waters in conjunction with the ad- miralty. It operates in liaison with naval forces and the fleet air arm even to the extent of spotting foI naval guns, as in the bombardment of Stavanger.
 Pre-War Training
 The pre-war training command now divided into a technical train ing command and 8 flying training command, controls all flying arma. ment schools and RAF depots.
 The maintenance command gov. erns equipment depots, aircraft storage units, ammunition depot, and repair depots.