FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0149.PDF
m* MARCH 3, 1921 AIR ESTIMATES Am estimates for 1921-22, issued on Saturday, show a reduction on the revised figures for the current financial year, presented to Parliament in December. The decrease is £4,581,230, notwithstanding that provision has to be made for the main- tenance throughout the twelve months of the five additional squadrons which it was decided to form three months ago. The gross total is £19,033,400, but appropriations in aid bring this figure down to £18,411,000. On the other hand, expenditure on account of the Force is provided for under various Civil Service votes (buildings, works, stationery, research, etc.), to the amount of £596,991, so that the actual total net estimate works out at £19,007,991, against a corre- sponding figure for the current year of £23,406,795. Apart from the expenditure borne on the votes of other departments, the totals for the two years compare as under :— £Net estimates, 1921-22 .. .. .. 18,411,000 Revised estimates, 1920-21 .. .. 22,992,230 Net reduction Numbers, all ranks, 1921-22 Numbers, all ranks, 1920-21 Increase £4,581,230 30,880 29.73° The general abstract of the estimates gives the net figures under the various heads of expenditure Pay, etc., of the Air Force Quartering stores (except technical), sup- plies, and transport Technical and warlike stores Works, buildings, and lands Air Ministry Miscellaneous effective services Civil aviation .. Experimental and research services Half-pay, pensions and other non-effective services .. 1,150 following £4.794.000 3,105,000 3,758,000 3,018,000 915,000 129,000 880,000 1,706,000 106,000 Total .. .. .. .. £18,411,000 As regards establishment, the number on the strength of the active Force, exclusive of officers and men serving in Indians made up as follows :— • • 21,845 2,191 Air officersGommd. officers CadetsWarrant officers Non-coms. 2 3 12 .769 X35 329 .433 AirmenBoys To 3°. 714 The remainder consists of seven air officers, 125 commis- sioned officers, and five other ranks attached to the Air Ministry ; five commissioned officers and ten other ranks serving in the Department of Civil Aviation, and fourteen commissioned officers engaged in experimental and research services. A Aeroplanes and Munitions Under the head of pay and allowances—with which there is a net decrease of £162,850—the principal items are : £1,501,000 for officers and £2,065,000 for men ; £250,000 for separation and marriage allowances ; £793,000 for civilians (comprising the staff of educational establishments, stores,et c.); £115,000 for the Air Force Reserve; £20,000 for the Territorial Air Force ; and £122,000 for recruiting staff and expenses, including £60,500 to cover bounties on re-engage- ment or extension of service. There is a net decrease of £5,163,550 under the head of technical and warlike stores, due mainly to the fact that the current year's estimates included some six and a half millions on account of aircraft supplies delivered under war contracts. The principal sub-heads compare as follows :— 1921-22. 1920-21. , •' i £ £Aeroplanes, seaplanes, and engines .. 1,681,000 i,352>75° Airships and airship engines .. .. 16,800 37.000 Aircraft technical and warlike stores.. 49,000 89,200 Armament and ammunition .. . - 249,500 240,400 Miscellaneous materials .. .. 116,000 126,500 Mechanical and other transport .. 581,000 427,700 Petrol and oil .. .. .. .. 471,000 477,5°° Rewards to inventors .. .. . • 700,000 450,000 The vote for works, buildings, and land includes £1,888,550 for new works, additions and alterations ; £668,500 for repairs, renewals, and maintenance ; and £230,000 for purchase of land and buildings. Among works which appear on the estimates for the first time are five stations in the Suez Canal zone, estimated to cost £670,000, of which £163,250 is to be voted in 1921-22. In respect of civil aviation there is a net increase of £458,760, the chief items of expenditure being : Works, buildings, and land, £356,000; salaries and wages, £178,000; technical equipment, £120,000 ; and meteorological services, £102,000. Buried under " Miscellaneous " £82,000, in which are included compensation, cablegrams, advertisements, etc., is the subsidy of £60,000 to Civil Aerial Transport Companies. The first sub-head includes provision for an aerial lighthouse at Lympne, and for landing and other lights, mooring masts, etc., at various stations at home and abroad. Experimental and Research Services show a net decrease of £132,440, the net total for the year being £1,706,000. After allowing, for the smaller amounts required for Royal Airship Works, - Cardington, liquidation of War liabilities, and smaller appropriations in aid, the net total for these services will have the benefit of an increase sum of £362,560. The Air Estimates, which were up for discussion on Tuesday this week, are referred to in the following explanatory state- ment by Mr. Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for Air, which accompanies the Estimates :— The gross total of the Air Estimates as now presented to the House of Commons is £19,033,400 ; the estimated appropriations-in-aid are £622,400, leaving a net total of £18,411,000. The latter sum is less by £4,581,230 than the corresponding total for 1920-21 of £22,992,230, voted in the Supplementary Estimate taken in December, 1920. The totals for 1921-22 include a gross war liability of £1,585,000, and war credits amounting to £114,000, making a net war charge of £1,471,000. Excluding war liabilities the net total of the Estimates is £16,940,000, as compared with £14,998,230 in 1920-21. This latter sum was, however, a revision of one of £15,173,430 originally sanctioned but not fully spent, the Supplementary Estimate of December, 1920, being wholly due to an unexpected increase of war liabilities. The under-spendings embodied in the revised estimate for 1920-21 were actually more considerable than would appear from these figures, since they were partially offset by expenditure on new services which had become necessary. The effect of these under-spendings has been in part to defer expenditure to 1921-22 ; and even where that has not been the case the causes of under-spending are not expected to operate equally in the coming year. The Estimates for 1921-22 include provision on the whole of the financial year in respect of the five additional squadrons, initial expenditure on which was included in the recent Supplementary Estimate. The increase of " normal " expendi- ture is more than accounted for by this cause, taken in conjunction with the increased prices of labour, material and transport over those prevailing when the Estimates for 1920-21 were framed. In order to obtain the figure of £18,411,000, every item of these Estimates has been sub- jected to the most stringent scrutiny, and all services have been curtailed on which, although in themselves desirable, expenditure cannot be fully justified in view of the present financial stringency. To relieve the works and buildings vote, temporary accommodation is wherever possible being improved in preference to the more expensive alternative of capital expenditure on new buildings. It has been decided, after consultation with the Admiralty, to suspend the Royal Air Force Airship service. The maintenance of such a service for fighting purposes at considerable expense would have involved a diminution 01 effort on services of which the fighting value has been more fully demonstrated. This step will result in considerable economies, although provision has to be made during the next few months for the liquidation of various outstanding liabilities. With a view to encouraging the development of civil aviation in a time of difficulty, it is proposed, with the sanction of Parliament, to devote a sum not exceeding £60,000 to the grant of subsidies to civil aerial transport companies under the terms of Lord Weir's report. The total sum allocated to civil aviation (including meteorological services and the cost of headquarters staff) is again £1,000,000. Experimental and research services cannot be unduly stinted, if the science of aviation is to progress ; and although the programme of work for the coming year has been kept within modest limits, there is a considerable carry-over, and the total provision for research is much the same as that originally made in the Estimates for 1920-21. I49 D 2
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
