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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0274.PDF
IfLlGHf hours' experience in flyirg, and the facts brought to his notice were that, with perhaps one exception, there was no one in the higher command who had been a hundred hours in the air. He should like to get some official particulars as to this. [An Hon Member : "Abroad?"] No, here. He was also informed, and it was no secret, that Sir Douglas Haig had not got an experienced airman on his Staff. That was a very serious thing. It seemed incredible. With regard to promotion, there was no seniority list in the Air Service, and the consequence wa? that if a man was not promoted he had got no definite complaint. In the absence of such a list, promotions ought to be very carefully guarded, and all these men who were risking their lives ought to be satisfied of the fact that the men at the head of the Service in high command were men who had gone through the mill. Mr. Tennani : I had occasion to refer to Sir David Henderson. He has flown many hundreds of hours. We have also at the War Office another officer, who is Second-in-Command to Sir David Henderson, and he has flown hundreds of hours also. Mr. Giiffitli said he should like to know whether either of them G& ® ® THE DEFENCE OF MARCH 30, 1916. has ever flown over the enemy lines in France. [An Hon. Member : " That is another point."] It may be another point, but it is not a bad point. It would be much more satisfactory—and he was not then referring to those two gentlemen, but putting it generally—for the men in this Air Service if they knew that the men at the head were really experienced and were taking part in flying in the War. At any rate, remember this, that Sir Douglas Haig had gone through the mill. He was a subaltern himself and has fought, and every man in the higher command in our Army and Navy has seen actual service. That is the point I make. Reverting later to the Air Service again Mr. Griffith said that he did hope, on the occasion of the forthcoming debate, the right hon. gentleman would be able to give them some assurance that the Air Committee, with Lord Derby at its head, had got some power, and that it was not merely a consultative and advisory Committee, but with the executive power in its hands, and that it was co-ordin ating the two Services—that is the Army Air Service and the Navy Air Service—and that it was a step in the inevitable development of an Air Ministry in this country. LONDON, &c. A MBBTINO called by the United Wards Club of the City of London was held on March 28th, at the Cannon Street Hotel, in support of the taking of adequate measures for the protection of life and property in the City against air raids. The chair was taken by Mr. David Haydon, president of the Club, and Mr. Arnold White moved the following resolution :— " That this public meeting of citizms and inhabitants of the City of London respectfully urges upon the Government the pressing necessity for prompt measures being taken for the adequate pro tection of life and property in the City against air raids by the enemy, and considers the most effective means of affording such protection would be by the creation and maintenance of an efficient air fleet, in addition to, and independent of, the existing naval and military requirements, to enable this country to carry out a vigorous offensive in the enemy's territory." Mr. H. de Vere Stacpoole, who seconded, said that people on the East Coast hoped that when Ministers again went down to the country they would get such a "dusting "as they had never had before. Let the country keep the Government as long as it liked— but in the British Museum. Mr. Pernberton-Billing, in supporting the resolution, said :—I will clear the air with reference to my position to Mr. Tennant in the House of Commons. I went to the House of Commons to tell the truth. I have been advised by my many friends that if I tell the truth in the House I shall ruin what may otherwise be a promising political career. I did not go to the House of Commons to obtain for myself either a reputation as a debater or to enter upon a promising political career. A man of my age and service abilities — whatever they are—would not get into mufti in the middle of a war like this for anything so rotten as a political reputation. I went to the House of Commons l*cause that is the only place in England where the Defence of the Realm Act does not handcuff your hand and sew up your lips. No power on earth is going to prevent me from saying what I know to be true in the interests of my country. I spent a considerable time after entering the House of Commons in trying to get the ear of those people who were for eight years warned by coming events which cast broad shadows before them and who were warned by the Press, but did not heed. That Govern ment was, and for some inscrutable reason still is, responsible for the defence of our Empire. If by waking itself just for a mo ment the Government could bring the war to a close even only seven days sooner, they might perhaps save the lives of 20,000 or 30,000 men, who might otherwise die in those last days of the war. Wars have been won by the sword and lost by the pen. When the moment for signing peace comes we have to take care that the welfare of the Empire and generations to come is not forfeited for the sake of a patched-up peace. We want men with vision and forethought; we don't want old gentlemen who have let us in before to let us in again. I only look upon a Zeppelin raid as an incident in a weak air service, and on the defence of London as an incident in a weak air service. What we want to bring about is something grander than the air defence of London. Wc want to demand of the Government that the money, brains, ability, and resources we possess shall be employed, and that we shall gain as soon as possible and maintain for ever the supremacy of the air. A great deal can be done for the cost of two days' war. Within six months I would guarantee that we should have supremacy in the air. Eor the cost of two days' war we could have such a fleet of aeroplanes as would darken the skies. We must do it. We must have done with these intrigues in both Services- intrigues for place, for promotion, intrigues to save the face of blunderers, intrigues between high service officials and others. Whatever happens they should not let us down. I say those men would be more honourable if they killed themselves. Whatever happens only one thing must occupy our minds : Don't let our country be let down. In the House of Commons the other after noon, when I found one charge after another, one statement of fact after another, did not cause Mr. Tennant even to turn in his sleep, I felt that some awakening was necessary. I felt that if observing the rules of the House has brought us to our present pass, it was far better that they should be broken. In a sense when I stated that some of our pilots had been murdered rather than killed I meant it, and I propose to prove it. To take a bright young man, keen and anxious to serve the country, and willing to die for it if any useful purpose can be served, to give him a piece of rotten material, to order him up in the air in a rain storm in a machine that can only climb 300 ft. a minute, and get along perhaps at 75 miles an hour, to fly over the enemy's country with three hours' petrol and a very meagre chance of being able to weather back to our own lines, to fly with an engine which is inefficient, to put him on a "dud" machine when we have the finest machines in this country—to send a young man like that to his death, to meet a machine which is fully equipped with machine-guns, which can climb at three times his speed and fly at twice his speed, to send him out to take photographs, knowing no skill of his will ever make up for the inefficiency of his machine—how should I describe the conduct of the people in high authority who allow this to go on ? There is no doubt this does go on, and I am going to prove it. I regret most deeply we have had to wash the dirty linen of the Air Service on the floor of the House of Commons in my earnest and eager endeavour to get something done for the country. I left no stone unturned between my maiden speech in the House of Commons and my first attack on the Government. I sought out all these people in authority, and I told them much more than I told the House. I told them I was prepared to prove to the hilt every statement I had made, both by oral and documentary evidence, and I was received most politely. That did not satisfy me, and it will never satisfy me. This country must be supreme in the air. It has been suggested that I am a man of one idea. I glory in that accusation. Before many years have passed that one idea will occupy the minds of many men in this country and women too. Every inland town lies on the coast of the ocean of the air, liable to instant and violent attack. When you think that in about ten years'time countries will possess not 1,000 but 100,000 aeroplanes at the cost of a few battleships, it is a terrible thought. These aeroplanes will fly at a speed of 100 or 120 miles an hour. Their powers of mobilisation will be alarming. It means that if oui relationship with another country 100 or 150 miles distant is strained at 6 o'clock in the evening, before we arise in the morning it will be possible for our principal towns and cities to be laid waste. What does that mean ? It means that although the aeroplane is a most terrible factor and arm in war to-day, if we only realise it, it is the winged messenger of peace. Before many years have gone by perhaps one blow such as I suggest will be struck, and when a terrible and bloody war is brought into the very houses of all the thinking people and all the controlling minds of a country, before use has warped their vision, robbed them of their sense of proportion, and accustomed them to the terrors of war—if that is brought home to them in hours instead of years, the people of the world will rise up and say :—''This must not be." But before that wonderful day comes we have got to prove ourselves, and when that wonderful day comes there will be a council of nations and there will be a chairman, and if we work now and strike now Great Britain can sit in the chair. (Cheers.) Mr. J. M. Hoggealso supported the resolution, which was carried unanimously. 274
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