– in the House of Commons at on 20 March 1935.
Mr William Dobbie
, Rotherham
asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air the number of experimental aeroplanes which have been designed, built, and tested for the Royal Air Force in the years 1924 to 1934, inclusive, and the number which have been the pattern of the subsequent equipment of the Royal Air Force?
Sir Philip Sassoon
, Hythe
The precise particulars for which the hon. Member asks are not readily available, but the number of new types of service aircraft tested at Royal Air Force Experimental Establishments during the years mentioned may be taken as about 160. Approximately one-third were adopted for service use.
Mr William Dobbie
, Rotherham
While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for his answer, may I ask whether it is not a fact that only by nationalising the air industry land getting rid of uneconomic methods—
Lieut-General Edward Fitzroy
, Daventry
That does not arise out of the question.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
