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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0317.PDF
Arm 13. 1916. I/SHI THE AIR SERVICES IN PARLIAMENT. ON April 5th, on the motion for the adjournment of the House, Mr. Pemberton-Billing, dealing with the question of the defence against air-raids by enemy aircraft, said he thought he was echoing the opinion of a very considerable majority of voters when he sakl they were not satisfied with our air services, that they were not satisfied with the defence—or rather, be should say, the lack of defence—which was in being. He slid he thought the Under-Secretary for War owed him a debt of gratitude for having thus affoided him the opportunity of making a statement so soon after the recent devastating raids which covered a very considerable area of this island. On very few occasions had the Germans failed to carry out their threats concern ing air raids, and the country was right in demanding that it shou'd have some other forms of defence than a few aeroplanes un suitable for the work to which they were set, darkness, and a request that citizens would remain quiet and take their punishment. It had been suggested that we must take this affront to our national dignity ar.d ibis blow at our national life calmly because our men in the trenches were suffering even more cruelly ; but that was a very poor argument. The men in the trenches had what might be described as the blood lust to support them ; they had the feeling that they could strike back, and that keyed them up in a way which co ordinary citizen experienced as he stood in the street hoping that the next bomb to fall would not include him among its victims. Our defences were not only inadequate, they were not even pro perly conducted. He had a letter from an officer in charge of an anti-aircraft gun which had it been used might have done good ser vice, stationed in a place which might be looked upon as the last line of defence of London. The following were the terms of that officer's letter:— "The officer on duty stated that he received no official warning DI the raid. He was telephoned to by the local station- master, who told him that ' traffic was stopped.' Later the station- master telephoned him and stated that aircraft was some thirty miles distant. He later heard the Zeppelin and saw it clearly with his own glasses. The Zeppelin was within easy range when sighted on the return journey, having crossed in the same direction previously. When sighted it was within easy range and was a clear shot, but the gun layers could not pick it up as the searchlight was not showing. The officer afterwards telephoned the War Office, who could not understand why he had not been warned and who referred him to his control. He telephoned there, and they expressed astonishment that he had not been warned." The only official message which the officer received was on the following morning to the effect that the coast was clear—presumably clear for the Zeppelin. This was disgraceful mismanagement. The officer could not engage the Zeppelin ; because he had no official instructions he had to wait. He. wished to know what dis cretion was left to such officers. Were they not allowed to fire a gun or raise a hand in defence of the country ? Once a Zeppelin had crossed the coast it was handed over to the military, but there, was a moment before it crossed the coast, and then it was for the Admiralty to take charge. On the night of one of the raids in question a certain commander in the North Sea wrote in a letter : " On Friday night I intercepted a Zeppelin flying in. We had an engagement lasting 35 mins. He bombed me, then put his machine gun on to me. He then hombed me again. He tried hard, but ultimately flew on bis journey I to our country). I almost wept because I bad no night sights on m)' popgun." If that officer's craft had been fully equipped he might have accounted ifor the Zeppelin, and thus saved lives and property and the country from a certain amount of indignity. He asked whether the trawlers and drifters engaged in patrol work in No. 1 district were armed with guns capable of engaging Zeppe lins and fitted with night sights. Had it been reported that these trawlers and drifters were properly t quipped and armed, and bad the Admiralty taken steps to check the accuracy of the report? Were these boats supplied with navigating instruments, and, if not, why not ? These were a few of the most important points affecting the lives and well-being of men who were daily and nightly suffering in the North Sea, suffering even more, in some cases, than the men m the trenches. If these men, amongst whom were some of oar bravest defenders, had no suitable instruments for navigation or guns with which to protect our coasts, why were they called upon to suffer the discom fiture of knocking about the North Sea in a bit of a boat ? Was this another form of eyewash or another public scandal ? He considered • new system of defence was absolutely of vital importance to the ountry, and the temper of Ira people was in a very unhappy state. It seemed to him from what he had seen that most indiscriminate warning was given, everybody seeming to be warned but the one psnon who could defend us, when everybody seemed to be aware that Zeppelins were coming but the one man who stood at the gun, and he asked that these things should cease. He deprecated altogether further trying to patch up our present inefficient system which in eighteen months had brought down one Zeppelin. He did not think any man in the country could really point to the man who was responsible for bagging " L. 15." He would ask if certain types of seaplanes which were absolutely useless and unused in their present state could be adapted, as one had already been adapted owing to the recent remarks in Parliament, and most successfully adapted. A seaplane, which had on it heavy floats approximating in weight from 500 to 1,000 lbs., very strongly built for its peculiar work on rough water, was converted into an aeroplane by having its floats cut off and wheels put on. The result was that this machine succeeded in leaving the ground ia a remarkably short space, it lifted six hours' fuel and nearly 800 lb*. of explosive, and it had a speed of So miles an hour. That meant a range of 480 miles with 800 lbs. weight of T N T, which, if it were dropped where it ought to be dropped, where it ought to have been dropped months or years ago, would have a very useful influence in stopping the present irritating raids of aircraft upon our country. There existed in this country at the present moment not one, but he would dare say too machines, lying about our coast town', useless as seaplanes becau-e of the immense wtight of their floats. They were built to put up with a certain amount of buffeting by the sea, but they were not much used, and their effi ciency was rapidly declining. When used after two or three days they became incapable of leaving the water, and the boats to which they were anchored. He suggested that these seaplanes were of no kind of utility in this war. We sent three of them on a recent journey, but owing to the disgraceful condition in which they had been kept, they dropped down into the sea, never having reached their objective. He maintained that these machines in this country were all useless, but if we deprived thtm of their floats and fitted them so that they would be able to carry, in lieu of the dead weight of those useless floats, 800 to 1,000 lbs. of useful ex plosives, they would be able to deliver the goods right in the very place where our enemy were building these night menaces, these airships which were causing so much distress and unhealthy excite ment throughout the entire country. He suggested, and he did it with great diffidence and with a full sense of what he was saying, that if no one could organise these raids, if no one could see their way to strike back immediately with force and decision, then he would ask leave from the House, and ask to be allowed to organise such raids, and, if necessary, to lead them. He said that with a full sense of responsibility. If be was provided with material, both human and otherwise, which was already lying round this coast, serving no useful purpose, while in volving great national expense, he thought he could suggest a way whereby we might bag as many Zeppelins on one day as we had done in a year of work with misplaced guns, misplaced confidence, and aeroplanes which were not fit for their work. His methods in this House were not, he believed, quite what were expected of a politician. The public were not looking to him to be a politician ; they were looking to him not because he bad claimed all that his critics said that he had claimed, but because he had claimed to know something about the job for which he came to the House. They were looking to him not so much lo criticise the Government as to offer them some way out and some definite pro posals. He asked the Government to give him the opportunity of offering them those proposals—not across the floor of the House— and listen to him not with the hope that he would say something upon which they might trip him up, but with the hope that he might say something which they could use and which might be of service to the country. It was quite feasible that a great deal of what he had to say, and to say in private, could he turned to good account by the Government. If he might quote from a journal which was not a stranger to that House—he referred to I'utuh— he said that they accused the Government, after the last two or three weeks of the air, in the following terms. " Mr. Punch " said : " I feel the Government have their heads rather than their hearts in the air." Mr. Tickler associated himself with the appeal made by Mr. hilling, that means should be taken to protect the inhabitants of the east and north-east coasts. Mr. Tennant, the Under-Secretary for War, in his reply, regretted very much he had not had sufficient notice to be in time for the opening of Mr. Billing's speech. He said what the House and the country really wanted from the War Office were more deeds than words. He would like, if he could, to convince the bouse that the Government had been taking very active steps and did not reauire to be spurred in lh» least by speeches in that House. Many hon. members seemed to think that the Government were doing nothing. 317
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