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16and at the time there were 22 permanent personnel, 18 aircraft, and three MT vehicles, which gives some sense of what was and was not possible. As with the RAAF the New Zealand service was, sensibly enough given its size, subordinated to the military. Salmond recommended a modest increase in establishment and also suggested that the Director of the Air Service be of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and that he should have direct access to the Minister.23 South Africa, like Australia, used the 100 aircraft of the Imperial Gift as the basis for a separate air force. Since it was South Africa%u2019s Jan Christian Smuts who wrote the report which led to the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1918 it is hardly surprising that he followed the same course in his own country. The South African Air Force dates its formation to February 1920, although the title was first officially used in 1923. As with the other Dominions it maintained close links with the RAF through its Director, Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, a decorated RFC veteran. As with all the Dominions the South Africans made much use of the RAF for training, but also made more determined efforts than Australia or New Zealand to develop both technical training and an indigenous manufacturing capability. There were, however, sensitivities with respect to the strong Afrikaaner influence in South African domestic politics which curtailed the very overt expression of links to the British Empire and Imperial interests.24 Given the problems of scale and economic realities all these Dominions looked to the RAF for training, support and guidance and all received direct and indirect support in much the same way as the Australians had. Airmen from all these nations were trained at Cranwell and the RAF Staff College and many served out short service commissions with the RAF and took the links, experience and knowledge they gained back to their own domestic forces. Others, of course, formally joined the RAF and many served with distinction before and during the Second World War. The names of Keith Park and Sir Quintin Brand from the Battle of Britain, AVM Carr and Donald Bennett at Bomber Command, and Raymond Collishaw in North Africa all spring readily to mind, but there are many others. With that brief survey of the other Dominions I shall wind up. I can expand a little on this in questions if you wish. Thank you very much.