[Printed circular on 'Air Transport and the Empire'.] Empire Industries Association. Monthly Bulletin No. 28. April - 1943.

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. Printed in small type. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with short closed tears at edges of folds. An interesting perspective on the British aviation industry, from what Dr T. R. Bromund of Yale University has described as 'the industrial wing of the Empire lobby'. The opening paragraph reads: 'Owing to the recent resignation of the entire Board, with one exception, of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, the public has become dimly aware that British Air Transport is facing a crisis, but as yet has little or no idea of the magnitude of the issues involved. It cannot be expected to grasp the inescapable truth that on the result of the handling of these issues may depend the whole future of British Overseas Trade and, consequently, of the way of life in these Islands. This is no exaggeration as we shall show in the opening paragraphs.' What follows is a brief 'history of British Air Transport since Air Transport became an accomplished fact', the author's contention being that Britain 'finished the last war with a Fighting Air Fleet vastly superior to any other in the world', and that this was 'immediately cut to a mere skeleton, and it never seems to have occurred to the Government of the day to regard the air as of the smallest important from a Civil point of view.' After this section on 'Early Struggles' there sections headed 'An Imperial Basis', 'Vital Issues', 'Wanted - A Man', 'The Freedom of the Air', 'Looking Ahead', 'The Sea and the Air' and 'Now'. The author's contention is that 'The Empire, which depends for its very existence on military co-operation at the present moment, will in the future depend equally on commercial co-operation.' COPAC notes runs of the Bulletin at Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin, the latter only beginning in 1948.