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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0256.PDF
[/OGMT] before Parliament, the member for E. Herts is carrying out the mandate which he obtained from his constituents, to force Air Supremacy,to the front with the Government To weaken his efforts by such mistaken methods as he adopted in parts of his speech on Wednesday is, we think, in a manner to betray the charge which has been en trusted to him. He has many times abjured all connec tion with politics. Let him take himself to task as to whether he is not being dragged into the very vortex which he states he is so anxious to keep clear of. One only has to study the effect of those parts of the speech which were free from the violent rhetoric which marred parts of " P.-B.'s" effort, to realise how much greater weight was attached to a plain statement of a good case. When the yellow journalism phase was let loose, there were marked signs of disapproval from every part of the House. Let the Member for East Herts, in the great National Cause of Aeronautics, take heed in time and read the writing on the wall. He has the ball at his feet. It is for him by judicious manipulation to keep it rolling until it has reached the goal we all so much desire. Drop the " murder " busi ness and force the Government's hands through public opinion by legitimate facts and advocacy, and all may still be well. Persist in the reverse, and we can see a very meteoric career for the newly-elected Air M.P. One fact which we should like to see substantiated by Mr. Pemberton-Billing would be the production of what he claimed was "the first journal ever published in the world in connection with flying, called Aviation" which he said he published and edited, and from which he made quotations. If the murder facts are as accurate as this claim, we think that a retraction of the term should be the only just outcome, instead of insistence that the term has not been misused. It is true that speeches in the House of Commons are outside the Defence of the Realm Act, but they are not exempt from public opinion. We support every reasonable effort and method to force the Government into recog nising their responsibility to the Nation in connection with our Air Service, but this end is more likely to be achieved by methods other than those so far adopted by Mr. Pemberton-Billing. • • • By way of contrast, it is a pleasant relief to Contrast turn t0 tne utterances of Lord Montagu, who holds the very strongest views upon the necessity for a paramount Air Service for the British Empire. Although a member of the new Co-ordination Committee, he has not hesitated to let his opinions be known. We commend to our readers the report of his speech, produced on another page, before the Liberal War Committee last week. If further demonstration of sound views, properly expressed, is needed, it is forth coming from Lord Sydenham, who, as we have previously suggested, we should like to see "co-opted " to the Joint Committee. In a well-considered article in the Times on Tuesday on the question of the administration of the Air Service, Lord Sydenham analyses the Old Board of MARCH 30, 1916. Ordnance, its advantages and defects, and the reasons for its ultimate downfall. In this Board he sees a precedent for the present crisis in the Air Service. He points out that the destruction of the Board was due to difficulties and jealousies arising in relation to the personnel of the artillery and engineers, which arms, it was claimed, must be brought under uniform Army control. So far, there fore, the precedent, he thinks, tells against the establish ment of a Board to provide and maintain the air service as a whole; but there are, he continues, important points of difference between the two cases. Lord Montagu and all who realise the present urgent needs of the new arm, and the certainty of great developments in the near future, see clearly the conditions which must be fulfilled. We require an air wing attached to the Navy to meet the requirements of fleets and squadrons, and another wing attached to the Army to carry out certain duties necessary for operations in the field. These wings have hitherto been provided and maintained by the Admiralty and War Office respectively, with the result of confusion, waste, and ill-ordered progress in certain respects. The principal uses of the air service cannot be secured by such means. It must be able to act as a separate arm, handled independently of the Navy and the Army by its own commanders under the direct orders of Government. It must create its own school of scientific thought, developing systems of strategy and tactics which may differ as much from naval and military systems as these do from each other. The consummate admiral cannot also be a consummate general, and it will be quite impossible for either to master all the problems of the air. Finally, the adminis tration must fulfil the requirements of the whole Empire. It follows that the air service can attain to full efficiency only if it is the sole care of a responsible Department of State. The advantages of entrusting construction, ex periment and materiel generally to one body are obvious, and a halting step has already been taken in this direc tion, which is certain to prove disappointing because the new Joint Committee has no real powers. As regards personnel, the case of the artillery and engineers is not analogous. Their recruitment, organisation, and a great part of their training closely follow those of the other arms. With the air service the difference is organic. Airmen must specialise and concentrate upon their peculiar duties from the first. When their technical training is complete, units can be handed over to the admiral or to the general to learn their business as necessary adjuncts of a fleet or an army, and will then pass under naval or military command just as trawlers and auxiliary craft, whose crews may have had no naval training, take their place in a service involving much that is new to them. He therefore unhesitatingly comes to the conclusion that an Air Board, organised on the lines of the old Board of Ordnance, is imperatively required; but, at the same time, he strongly deprecates undue haste. The work should be put in hand without delay, however. Mean while, following the addition to the Army Council, either a new Lord should be added temporarily to the Board of Admiralty or one of the present Lords should receive full powers to deal with air questions, which are now the business of far too many officials, and have therefore been sadly mismanaged. Lord Sydenham's constructive policy is always worthy of the closest consideration, and we are thus glad to learn so explicitly the lines upon which he also sees day light for the future of the British Air Service. = 56
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