In quality our airmen easily excel the Nazis, and there is good reason to believe that our machines are far better than any that Germany has yet put into the air. Only in numbers has Britain lagged behind hitherto, and here the tide will soon turn. Our home production is now double that of a year ago; aircraft production in Canada too, has been doubled, and, as Lord Beaverbrook disclosed on July 25, the output of aircraft for Britain in the United States is to be increased by an additional 3,000 per month. Eleven thousand aeroplanes have been ordered in the U.S.A. by the British Purchasing Commission, and of these 2,800 have so far been delivered. Even allowing for the set-back due to the French debacle, we are probably now making or receiving every month more aircraft than are being turned out in Germany. Moreover, our own production curve is rising steeply, whereas that for the German output must be falling. Our airmen are harassing enemy aircraft works by daily raids, and Britain's home defences take a steady and increasing toll of raiding aeroplanes. All these factors are making for that preponderance in the air which will allow Britain eventually to take up the offensive again. August 1940
