Probably few realise that a self–contained organisation for maintaining an air fleet would need many more different types of ground vehicles than aircraft. This is true in the case of the Royal Air Force even if all vehicles of a purely military nature are excluded. It is highly probable that a civilian air organisation of similar magnitude would have fewer types of aircraft, but if it were to be self–contained and operate in different parts of the globe, it could not do with many less types of ground vehicles than the R.A.F. finds necessary.

Obviously this depends on the interpretation of the term “self–contained.” Most of the small aerial transport companies have their own ground transport organisations, but they are far from being self–contained in the sense in which the author wishes to use the term to–night. We would all like to see a vast civilian air organisation operating in and between all the different units which comprise the British Empire. Nothing would do more to knit us and the Dominions and Colonies into one impregnable whole.