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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0358.PDF
lAEOilJ Mr. Lee said he listened to the right hon. gentleman's statement regarding aviation not merely with genuine disappointment, but with deepening anxiety. It was clear, from what Col. Seely said, that the situation was far worse even than they feared. It was difficult to discover what the facts were, because the right hon. gentleman had shrouded the whole thing in an atmosphere of secrecy, which was to a large extent unnecessary. He suggested that there were vast activities in connection with the preparation of aerial plans which he was not able to disclose. It was as to these vague suggestions that there was scepticism. When the right hon. gentle man introduced his scheme in connection with this subject last March they thought it was neither adequate nor ambitious, but that it was at any rate promising, on paper. He said : " We have laid the foundation of a plan which will ensure that this country, in the long run, sooner rather than later, shall be able to hold her place in the air as she has done for centuries past on land and on sea." The right hon. gentleman told them at that time that that plan involved the purchase of 130 aeroplanes. Where were they ? The right hon. gentleman's claim on Wednesday, however, was that he had IOI, and he displayed a remarkable reluctance to tell them how m3ny were available for purposes of war. They gathered that the whole of these machines were considered as part of the available lighting force of the country. Frankly, the Opposition did not believe that. They know that 25 per cent, or more were mono planes, the use of which had been forbidden, even for practice, by the right hon. gentleman himself. In his memorandum the right hon. gentleman only claimed that he had got three squadrons of aeroplanes, numbering 54 altogether. That was not Iol, nor was it anything like sufficient. The right hon. gentleman attended a dinner of the Aero Club the other day, and made one of his absolutely baffling speeches, in which he said that our progress was greater during the past year than that of any other country in any one year. lie went on to say that Providence had gifted us with immense advantages, that we had the skill and brains, and taught the whole world, and that it was to the most courageous race that victory would go. They all knew that the young officers engaged in this work risked their lives freely in the service of their country, but those considera tions were totally irrelevant to what the Government was doing to provide us with an efficient force. It would be extremely unwise to assume that we in this country had a monopoly of brains or courage in this respect. It was not detracting in any way from the gallantry of our own officers if he suggested that equal gallantry had been shown by France, which had been the pioneer in this matter. It was claimed that there was an increase of ,£283,000 on the aviation vote this year for the Army alone, but whereas last year the hope was held out that the expeditionary force would have eight pquadrons, they were now told that that force had only got three. The right hon. gentleman held out hopes that we might have two more by the end of this year, and presumably two more by the end of the following year. That was to say, that in order to provide even the meagre force which he considered necessary for the expeditionary army alone they had to wait till the end of next year. The expeditionary force would thus have had to wait three years for these necessary eyes. Meantime, no provision was being made for squadrons or other aerial equipment for our home defence army. In his memorandum, Col, Seely threw a certain amount of blame for this delay on British manufacturers. They had been slow in making deliveries, and there was no satisfactory engine. How could there be, in view of the lack of encouragement given by the Government to manufacturers ? The right hon. gentleman and the first Lord of the Admiralty were now going to offer a prize for engines. Why did not they do that long ago ? The industry was not a rich one. It was only now, when the deficiency had been so clearly proved as to place us in a dangerous position, that that step was to l>e taken. We were still conducting experiments with airships, while other nations commanded the air. Germany in the coming year was spending £1,800,000 on military and naval aviation, in addition to more than ,£300,000 subscril>ed by private persons. He did not say that we should spend as much, but the amount proposed by the Government was totally inadequate. The Secretary for War had announced, to their great surprise, that the Army did not want any large airships. Was there any reserve to make up for wastage in war ? Last summer, on the Continent, he saw a l'arseval airship similar to the one which the Admiralty was buying ; it was taking part in a contest with a Zeppelin airship, and was utterly powerless. It reminded him of an unfortunate grouse squatting in the presence of an eagle. The Secretary for War had said that large airships were the business of the Admiralty, which department, however, had none. He would remind the right hon. gentleman that these large airships, imperfect as they might be, had a radius of action of over 1,200 miles, which would enable an airship from the Continent to cruise practically all over these MARCH 29, 1913. islands and return home. It had been proved that they could drop a weight approximating a ton, and, if of an explosive material, they could imagine what would be at any rate the moral effect in a country that was in the throes of mobilisation if such airships hovered over the mobilisation centres, dockyards, magazines, and even the House of Commons. With that House under its present control, however, that would be the last place with which an enemy would wish to interfere. The Secretary for War had said that he and his advisers had produced a new gun, about which he could tell them nothing except that it was the best in the world for attacking aircraft. Everything the right hon. gentleman produced was the best in the world, as he was the best War Secretary in the world. The right hon. gentleman boasted that his new gun would hit any airship that might possibly come within range, but the Zeppelin which he saw last summer on the Continent was practically invisible against the ordinary grey sky such as we so often had in this country. Infantry soldiers said that looking over their rifle sights they could not see one of these Zeppelins to fire at, although it was only at a height of about 5,000 ft. It was the opinion of the Secretary for War that at night, if we could not see an airship, its crew would not see us, but let the right hon. gentleman go up in one of his own Army airships at night over a dockyard working at full pressure, as it would be on the outbreak of war, with all its lights burning. In such circum stances a dockyard viewed from the sky was plainer at night than in the day. As for the right hon. gentleman's gun, who was to use it ? As a peaceful citizen he would contemplate with foreboding the possibility of the Territorial artillery being called out to shoot at the planet Venus as it hung low on the western horizon. That was the only defence which the Government were giving them except the Home Office regulations against trespassing airships. The truth was that they could only deal with the menace of the air by counter preparations in the air. Nothing of that kind was being done by the Government on an adequate scale. The Opposi tion were justified in feeling real disappointment that the Govern ment had not brought forward some substantial programme dealing with all branches of the subject. At least double the amount proposed to be spent was necessary. When the Government's arrangements had been properly examined by the country they would cause not merely acute disappointment, but indignation and alarm. Mr. H. Baker (Financial ISecretary to the War Office), replying to some of the points raised in the debate, said he thought Col. Seely's statement had given general satisfaction in the House and outside. Every one of the 101 aeroplanes possessed by the Army was a working machine, which could be used in war. They included about 25 monoplanes, which were being rapidly converted according to the recommendations of the Monoplane Committee. Objection was taken by Mr. Lee to the presence of monoplanes in the list of Army aircraft : but he must remember that the totals of France and Germany included monoplanes. Mr. Lee : I did not object to monoplanes. Mr. Baker, continuing, said Mr. Lee also dealt with the question of the establishment of squadrons. It was true that fifty-four was the establishment, but that was not the strength. The number of effective aeroplanes was not limited to a mere total of fifty-four. As regarded the defensive gun, he would have thought Mr. Lee would have been content with the statement of the Secretary for War that the difficulty of hitting an aerial target had been very much over-estimated. The Army had a total of 101 aeroplanes now, and within a very short time that number would be considerably increased. Complaint had been made that they had reduced the total number of horses in the Army, and it was true that the Estimates showed a reduction of something over 2,000. There were two main causes for the reduction. One was the large reduction of transport horses in South Africa owing to the reduction of the garrison, and the other was the fact that they were gradually reducing the needs of the mounted infantry in this country. On Monday, Mr. Joynson Hicks raised the question of military aviation in connection with Col. Seely's speech last week, and especially in relation to the question of engines for aeroplanes. The engines of English aeroplanes were deficient. Only two English manufactured engines had satisfactorily passed the test during the year. Makers of these engines had been starved for the lack of sufficient orders from the Government The Secretary for War had not fulfilled the expectations which he held out a year ago with regard to British manufacturers. The scheme which he then out lined involved 131 aeroplanes. Had they been purchased during the past year, and was the Air Corps on a war footing ? His information was that if war had broken out at any time during the past year there would not have been twenty-five efficient aeroplanes which could have been immediately used for purpose of war. In his opinion, to 364
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