7 104,000, including 6,800 trained pilots and 1,650 under training as pilots; and by the Spring of 1940 it is estimated that the strength will be 130,000, of whom 8,300 will be trained pilots and 1,650 under training as pilots. Service flying training is already being undertaken at over 40 civil and service schools. Great assistance has been afforded by the Dominions in the matter of candidates for flying posts in the Royal Air Force. Substantial progress has also been made in the vital matter of building up an adequate reserve of pilots. The total of reserve pilots (including pilots under training) has been raised from 1,400 in April 1934 to a present level of roughly 5,000, while strength of 8,300 will be achieved by April, 1940. In addition some 4,000 pupils are at present undergoing training in the Civil Air Guard, and the total by April 1940, should be at least 5,000. Apart from pilots, all classes of the reserves are being strengthened and new categories created where necessary. The total personnel reserves of all classes (including Auxiliary personnel), which numbered some 10,600 in 1934, will have been raised to nearly 96,000 by 1940. (f) The post-1940 program Further stages of the program, in the financial years 1940 and 1941, although making only a relatively small change in first line strength will profoundly increase the war strength of the force. During these two years there will be a concentration on re-armament with new and more powerful types of aircraft and the provision of yet greater depth of reserves. At the end of the period the Metropolitan Air Force will possess a hitting power and endurance out of all proportion to the Force which will exist in 1940. |