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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 1151.PDF
NOVEMBER 4, 1520 them efficient in their particular trade. The men required for unskilled labour are similarly obtained by direct enlist- ment, and we hope it will be found possible to teach a trade to as many as wish to learn one during their service in the Royal Air Force. General education has not been forgotten. A scheme has been sanctioned for the engagement of civilian teachers on a salary basis which we hope will attract a good proportion of public school and University men. At the Cadet College and the Boys' Training Establishments the scheme is already working, and as our peace organisation takes shape we hope to extend it first to the men's training establishments, and eventually to all training units. I think I have said enough to show that steps are being taken to ensure that service in the Air Force on a long service basis is not a blind-alley occupation. The entry of those officers who can only be taken on a short basis may prove to be a more difficult problem. If a large number of officers come foward from the older services for seconding to the Royal Air Force, the number of short service commissions offered will be correspondingly less, and so the best material only need be taken. By thus raising the standard of the candidates, the older services will help to ensure that their air requirements are met by the best type of officers. The seconding system, moreover, whilst of paramount importance to the Air Force, is also a fundamental factor in the development of the Navy and the Army. Whatever the future may show that the Air Force is ' capable of doing in its independent capacity, it cannot be doubted that it will always be called upon to work in close and intimate co-operation with the Navy and Army. No - commander who has once experienced the advantage of seeing " what is the other side of the hill " is likely to forego it. But the other services cannot make the best use of the Royal Air Force unless they know its possibilities and limitations, and understand the principles of its employment. Officers of the Navy and Army should know about the limitations of machines, for instance, the small amount of actual flying that can be done, at any rate continuously, in each twenty-four hours, and the reasons, for this, i.e., fatigue of pilots and the limitations of petrol capacity, due to the necessity for high performance. Naval and military commanders must realise this and the consequent necessity for making the best use of aircraft while they are in" the air, and study its effect upon themselves and their tactics. In the case of the Army, some of the effects are plain. Move- ments will have to be carried out by night to a much greater extent than in the past, in camps and billets comfort will often have to be sacrificed to security from aerial observation. Camouflage and smoke will have to be extensively employed. There is no better way, in fact it might almost be said that there is no real way, of learning all this except by personal experience. The officers who are seconded under this scheme now will, I hope, be the Naval and Military Commanders of the future. The Royal Air Force could, if necessary, be officered in other ways, but the seconding scheme is essential from the point of view of the other services. To return for a moment to the Short Service scheme, this is admittedly an experiment. Doubts have been expressed as to whether it will prove attractive, but I would like to put two questions. Rightly administered on broadminded and sensible lines, is it not possible that four years' service in the Royal Air Force between the ages of 19 and 24 might prove, in many . cases, a substitute to those who cannot afford a University ' career ? Again, is the latter age really too great to permit of entrance upon another career taking into consideration that they will have gained some experience of handling men, the widened outlook which results from travel and a modicum at least of technical knowledge ? Distribution Distribution affects very considerably the organisation of the service, and I said just now that our problem is to meet present needs while keeping in view future requirements. Present needs are difficult to estimate in view of the almost universal unrest which causes the storm centre to shift almost day by day. This inevitably makes for dispersion, which means inefficiency. In every case of military force, the evil of small detachments is recognised, but the material assistance that can be provided by small aerial units, together with the moral support they can render, is apt to obscure the fact that in an Air Service the inefficiency of small detachments is out of all proportion to their decrease •in size. This is of course because the Air Force, being a highly technical service, is dependent on adequate workshop facilities, good provision of spare parts and other technical supplies, and efficient supervision by the higher ranks. Air-Commodore Brooke-Popham said in France, " An infantryman can still fight if he is deficient of his great-coat or his water bottle, but the loss of one nut or bolt can render an aeroplane useless and an encumbrance on the ground." The idea, therefore, is to concentrate in as few centres as possible, with power to move a suitable force quickly to any point required. Movement by sea is a slow business, unless aeroplane carriers are available, which is not the case at present. Shipping is difficult to obtain, and this is not to be wondered at when the bulk and weight of a squadron and its stores are remembered. A D.H. 9A squadron, for instance, requires 383 cases of various sizes, the twelve largest being over 27 ft. long, weighing -z\ tons each, measuring 37\ shipping tons, and requiring specially large hatches. In spite of many difficulties we have attempted to adhere to the principle of concentration, at present, I fear, not too effectually, but it is a principle which must be looked upon as fixed, and must be striven for. One cannot look at a map of the world without seeing that Egypt is the centre of it from a Service aviation point of view. It is also an ideal flying climate. Employment When we come to consider the employment of the Roy&l Air Force, the first want we feel is that there is but little literature on the subject. There is no Royal Air Force Clausewitz, or even a Hamley or a Mahan, and we cannot learn entirely from naval and military history. I want here to emphasise that although there is no Clausewitz or Hamley or Mahan for the Royal Air Force, it must not be thought that there are no principles of tactics or strategy'for the air. The principles are there. They were not created ; facts made them, and they exist and are sound, if only we had a Hamley or a Mahan to express them to the outside world. We have, however, the experience of war in many theatres to guide us, although it has not yet been committed to paper in any readily accessible form. The need of a Royal Air Force Staff College to analyse principles and create a school of thought is obvious. This could not be done at the Navy or Army Colleges, where, with all the good will in the world, the problem would inevitably be approached with pre- conceived ideas. In this conduction I would like to emphasise once more the point I tried to make when discussing the provision of officers, namely that the other services must study and understand us, since whatever the future develop- ments of the Royal Air Force in its independent capacity, it is certain to be constantly employed in co-operation with both the Navy and Army, and can only be used to the best advantage if studied and understood. In my opinion the most important principle of all, and the one perhaps least generally understood and appreciated, is that the work of the Air Service either on land or sea, in spite of its many and various aspects, can only achieve its greatest efficiency if regarded and carried out as a single co-ordinated effort. The work required whether by the Navy or Army is both tactical and strategical. It consists of reconnaissance and photography, of spotting for the artillery, and of offensive action against troops or ships, against personnel and material on lines of communication, depots and harbours. Independently of this work, in intimate co-operation with the other services the Air Force can attack the enemy's sources of supply, and the moral of his civil population and Government. It is, however, utterly wrong and very wasteful to look upon these as entirely separate duties. To revert to the co-operation of what is essentially air work with that for the other services, it may be that the normal duty of some squadrons may be artillery work, of others the attack of the enemy's fighting troops, and of others the distant bombing of his factories, but it is essen- tially wasteful to divide the Air Force up into separate bodies for each duty. If,:for instance, squadrons are only employed for long-distance bombing, starting possibly from somewhere outside the army zone their power is wasted when the weather is unsuitable, as it often must be. Again there often comes a time when the artillery requires but few machines, and the artillery squadrons can profitably be employed in bombing. In fact all bombing, even when carried out on very distant, and apparently independent objectives, must be co-ordinated with the efforts that a.re being made by the land and sea forces, both as to the selection of objectives and as to the time at which the attacks shall take place. In my opinion, bombing, to be effective must be continuous, and it is from the accumulative moral effect of attacks carried out day after day for a week or ten days in succession, that the best results may be expected. I may be wrong, but, in my opinion, the moral fact of bombing, especially night bombing, does not decrease with experience. I have often heard people say that although the moral effect of bombing may be very great for the first two or three times people soon
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