Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Air Force. – in the House of Commons at on 21 February 1940.
Reverend Dr James Little
, Down
asked the Secretary of State for Air whether, as Northern Ireland occupies an ideal situation both geographically and meteorologically for the training of pilots and observers for the Royal Air Force, he will immediately consider the desirability of having additional aerodromes established there; and whether he will alleviate unemployment and utilise the skilled labour available by the establishment of another aircraft factory in Belfast or its vicinity in the near future?
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.