To many persons it must have been rather disturbing to
learn that so great a manufacturing country as Britain should have to place large orders abroad for aeroplanes and aeroplane engines. But this .is part of the price we have to pay for hurried rearmament. It is essential now that we should catch up with arrears, and that was the justification for placing an order some time ago for 400 machines in the United States, and seeking permission, now granted, by the United States Government for the supply of engines of the same type as that fitted to Mr. Howard Hughes' machine. The evidence is now coming in that the Air Ministry under Sir Kingsley Wood is actively stirring itself in expediting production at home and promoting it in Canada. Heavy bombers are to be made in Canada, and a beginning is to be made with mass production of fighters on the largest scale at New Bromwich, where Sir Kingsley Wood last week cut the first sod on the site of Lord Nuffield's new factory. The first order—the first only, be it noted—is for no fewer than 1,000 Spitfire fighters. Lord Nuffield is the com- manding figure in this vast enterprise, with the Air Ministry and the Treasury, we must suppose, in the not distant back- ground. But the time had come for drastic measures. It was right to make use of Lord Nuffield's great experience.
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