FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0298.PDF
qwm concentration of naval perstmnet in one section was obviously the only practicable course to adopt. The men were selected with a view to causing the least possible disturbance to the Koyal Naval Auri-Aircraft Corps. As to whether the transfer did not affect efficiency for tome time, the answer was that as the new gun or light would be of the same type as that of the personnel to which it was transferred no loss of efficiency should arise. For the first nine months of the war the ascendancy of the British air service was so pronounced as to be very remarkable indeed. What had really been the surprise had been not that the Germans should improve their air service but that they should not have done it long before. I think that that is perfectly true. I know it experienced a certain amount of comment outside, but any one who really knows what did occur at the front during the first nine or ten months of the war knows it to be a statement of fact. It used to be said, for instance, in the early part of the war, by the Flying Corps, that "if you point an old Maurice at a Hun he goes to the ground at once." It was more than anything else a moral ascendancy, and was not, he thought, due to the superiority of our engines. He believed that when the Ger mans made their effort two or three months ago, we were infinitely better supplied both in numbers and material than previously, and the quality of the officers was the same. On the other hand the new development came slightly as a surprise after nine months during which nothing oi the kind had happened. The Germans had a rertain advantage from the novelty of their new trick. But these tactics were now being met quite satisfactorily. Our reconnaissances, though under difficult conditions, were being carried out with the greatest possible regularity and entirely to the satis'action of the Commander-in-Chief. Fighting in the air con tinued with no advantage to the enemy. For the moment the majority of the German aeroplanes were probably faster than the majority of ours, but we could not expect that every one of our aeroplanes should be faster than all the Germans. We expected to have as good aeroplanes as the Germans, and if possible a larger number of superior aeroplanes. Though at the moment the majority of the German aeroplanes were probably faster than the majoity of ours, that state of things was rapidly being altered. There were aeroplanes lor diffeient purposes. There were large numbers of reconnaissance aeroplanes, which were armed and usually carried two machine guns. Thry were very similar to the German reconnaissance machines. There were also a large number of fighting aeroplanes. Letters from officers at the front calling attention to the superior >pe-d of German aeroplanes came in almost every case from those who were engaged on artillery observation and reconnaissance : other officers told an exactly oppo site story. The Derby Committee had been set up, as he under stood, as a sub-committee of the War Committee, to advise on various matter, of policy in connection with material. He had the reatesl lit lief that it would be instrument!.! in co-ordinating the uties and needs of the Admiralty and the War Office. He had not it tended to give the impression that the Commander- in-Chief was satisfied with the numbers of machines and personnel which he hud. What he intended to convey wa.s that the Com mander-in-Chief was satisfied with the air service which he had. That did not mean that he would not like it t<> be larger. They might say that Sir John Jellicoe was sa isfied with his Fleet, but that would not mean that he would not like another ship or two. The Government were endeavouring with great energy to do every mortal thing human ingenuity could devisi to biing our aircraft and air service up to the standard which could be demanded by the public and the commandeis in the field. Reference had been made to the refusal of an engine which had lieen accepted by the Admiralty. If the allusion was to a Rolls-Royce machine, the reply was th*t the W»r Office asked 'he Admiralty, who were conducting nei otiaiions with the firm, to give orders on their behalf. Sir A. M..nd ; I should like to know whether it is not a fact that the Rolls-Royce firm offered to put up new works in order to build a larger number of machines than had been ordered, and were informed that that was not rtquired ? Mr. Tennant: I think that that is not the case, but I should not like to Jay more without consultation, as I cannot give an absolute assurance on the point. As to the testing of inventions, there were two separate bodies which carried out experiments. One was the Inventions Board of the Ministry of Munitions and the other the Inventions Board which was un< er the First Lord of the Admiralty. Either o those Boards, if they had thought well of the invention referred to by the right hon. gentleman, would have had it taken up, put in hand, and experiments made. These Inventions Hoards were bombarded by every kind of person, with every kind of folly, and the House would realise that they had to keep a very jealous eye upon the inventions which were submitted to them before they we're accepted. As to the little controversy between Mr. Joynson-Hicks and Lieut.-Commander Dudley Ward, there was no point upon which he did not touch in a previous speech. APRIL 6, i«jr6. Mr. Joynson-Hicks : The right hon. gentleman can leave it alone if he wishes to do so. But the thing is rather awkward, because my hon. and gallant friend made his- statement, which I am very loth to contradict. Obviously a statement made by a friend of mine in this House receives from me more credence than a statement from an out-ide source. I am bound to accept it. On the other hand, the local authorities at Ramsgate do most distinctly controvert that statement. There are five different statements here, which I should be glad to hand to my right hon. friend. They do ask for an inquiry. I must leave the matter there—that is the difference between the two sources of information. Mr. Tennant: I shall be very willing to inquire into the facts. Mr. Marshall had made observations about the Isle of Thanet and the desirability of putting signalling stations at various specified points which I am bound to say were very undesirable to bring before the House. Mr. Billing had spoken with some heat, with what he described as emotion. It was always a pity to engender heat in such matters. It was very apt to be subversive of light, therefore he must endeavour to follow Mr. Billing without it. He spoke of ignorance and intrigue among the high officials of the War Office. That was a matter on which he had better means for ascer taining the truth than the hon. membsr, and he could assure him that he was wholly misinformed. Mr. Billing indicated dissent. Mr. Tennant: Of course if he will not take my assurance it is no good my giving it to him. He did not know whether the member for East Herts was alluding to the aerodrome under the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps at Dover or not. If he was, all he could say was that it was one of the very best aerodromes they had got. Mr. Billing ; I was referring to the naval aerodrome. Last week I put a question in regard to this aerodrome to the First Lord of the Admiralty, who answered it, and to-day I put the question to the Under Secretary for War both as to the military and naval aero dromes. Mr. Tennant: I am not able to speak for the naval aircraft, but as regards the military aerodrome I am informed that it is one of the best in the po session of His Majesty's Government. He would like to disillusion the hon. gentleman with regard to the factory at Farnborough. It was not a producing factory in the sense of pro ducing large numbers of engines or their parts, but to assist in the manufacture of design. In the speech of the hon. member there was a long category of very melancholy casualties. When one was dealing with a very dangerous occupation like flying at a very dangerous time in the middle of a gieat "war accidents must happen. It was impossible to exaggerate the sadne s of those things ; yet at the same time some of them who had great responsibilities, and who realised the dangers inherent to the kind of warfare and to the conditions of the Hying Corps, had sent their own sons into the Flying Corps, and did not believe they were going to be murdeied. His own eldest son was a member of the Flying Corps. So was the son of the Commander of the Flying Corps, Sir David Henderson. As the hon. member had made these state ments and had assumed, quite wrongly, that these unfortunate accidents occurred owing to lack of care, owing to faulty mec! anisni, owing to their being worn-out machines or to the machines being overladen, he would tell him this—that he would make it his business to have these statements investigated by a purely unofficial body— by a judicial body if possible. When the Prime Minister came back he would ask him whether he would not set up a small judicial body to go through the allegations and lists put before the House by the hon. member for East Herts, and to furnish a report so that they might see exactly what had happened. It was not difficult for any hon. member to bring up in a great war lists of casualties and to state facts in relation to individual cases and diaw upon the feelings ot the House to commiserate with those who had lost their neaies' ai d dear est. But » hat was on the otht r side ? How many th< usands of miles had been flown ? How many hundreds and thousands of times had these men gone up and yet nothing had been said aboui it ? They had come back home safe and sound. Anyone who had a friend or relation in the Flying Corps bad only to ask him how many times he had crossed the German lines. Many of them had done it hun dreds and hundreds cf times. Let the hon. gentleman ask any man who knew the facts of the German Hying Corps how many men ot their corps had been driven down on their own lines by our pilots. We did not know, they could not tell, because these men had nearly always fallen over the German line, and British pilots were very modest young men. They did not pretend to have knocked cut a German aeroplane unless they were absolutely certain ar.d had seen it hit the ground with a smack. It was believed that a very large number ot German aeroplanes had been driven to earth, although they could not say so definitely, because they had not actually seen them. The hon. member had made a very effective point by informing 89$
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
