Orders of the Day — Civil Aviation

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 March 1945.

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Photo of Sir Stafford Cripps Sir Stafford Cripps , Bristol East 12:00, 20 March 1945

It is very convenient for us too, to be able to get a greater force of fighter planes in this country. Even so, the most we have been able to do so far is to produce a few military transports, and it will be still some little time before we can produce any real civil aircraft. In the meantime, we are trying to arrange for military transport and aircraft to be adapted.

The trouble, of course, is that our most acute shortage has been on the design and development side. Skilled technicians and workers of all kinds have been short so that we have not been able to go ahead with the preparatory work and, as the House knows, it generally takes a period of years to pass from the begin- ning of the preparatory stage to the actual start of production. In the present state of affairs, while the war continues, it is essential if any work at all is to be done upon transport aircraft that my Department should control the allocation of that work. We shall take our orders, of course, from the Minister for Civil Aviation just as we do from the Secretary of State for Air, or the First Lord of the Admiralty for military and naval aircraft, but this does not in the least preclude direct contact in the future between manufacturers and users. We believe that it is very sound and proper that we should all consult together, and I think all those who are concerned will agree that this combination of pooled experience will be of the greatest value to civil aviation.