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for these hangars is all in place, but sufficient credits have not been voted this year to complete the whole installation. The arrangements at Orly, however, struck me as tremendous, and as exemplifying what France is going to do in aeronautics.
The fourth department in the Air Ministry is that of Fabrications, which is charged with the production of all aircraft.
It is quite evident, and even more so as a result of the inspection that I made, that there are about eight elements in French aviation that are not closely coordinated, more or less independent of each other, and that will surely cause trouble in the event of a great emergency. There is no one man who can be held responsible for the development of French aviation, and, consequently, until such a condition exists, French aviation will be in more or less of a mess, although great progress is being made by the different elements. This is thoroughly realized, but it has been impossible up to the present, on account of politics, for the French to push through a sensible organization and unify their aeronautical activities.
There is nothing startling about any of their arrangements in any of the departments. They are sensible, and are carried through according to the methodical, painstaking manner in which the French do their work.
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