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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0192.PDF
tor home* defence was made on a much larger scale by other countries, but, of course, their conditions in each case varied considerably. The Americans were no guide to us, but they had roughly twenty-seven squadrons within their own areas, although their Service was in its infancy. Italy had made a start, and had something like 400 machines to-day. In Japan there was considerable development, but the biggest development had been in France, which, having had experience of invasion by aircraft, was determined it should not occur again if it could be at all defeated. The Air Force for home defence in France consisted of sixty to seventy squadrons, apart from those available for Army and Navy co-operation, and there were reports of a very largely increased programme. The French squadron was made up of eight aeroplanes for fighting and twelve aeroplanes for bombing. The strength of our squadron was twelve machines (in war, eighteen). In this connection, he thought the article in The Times by a distinguished late officer of the Flying Corps was of great interest. Another point of importance was that the Air Force would form a link between the forces that fought on sea and on land. The Army and Navy were dependent for assistance in the air for all future manoeuvres, but the Air Service could act perfectly well without either. If it were to break down the barriers which had for so long existed between the Army and Navy, by providing a common meeting ground for the two Forces, it would be a great advantage to those branches of the Service and to the nation as a whole. There were three recommendations of the Geddes Com mittee in regard to the Air Force with which the Govern ment disagreed. The first was the total abolition of eight and a-half squadrons at home which were used for Army and Navy co-operation. This, it was said, would effect economies amounting to ^2,500,000, though the figures by which the calculation was arrived at were confused. But what was entirely ignored was the fundamental argument that those squadrons were the only reserves from which the officers and men required for the squadrons overseas were to be obtained. The second recommendation of the Geddes Com mittee, from which the Government differed, was the aboli tion- of the boys' training school. He feared that without the school the skilled men required by the Service could not be obtained. For the technical knowledge needed in the Service fifty-four trades had to be learned. As to Halton expenditure, they were within 20 per cent, of completion of all the buildings, and then the organisation they had wanted ever since the end of the War would be completed. More over, they had economised towards that by prolonging the service by two years. The Geddes Committee were wrong in suggesting that the re-conditioning of machines was simply intended to make the machines pretty. On the contrary, it increased the life of a machine from three years to four. He recognised that this had a disadvantage. If there were no new orders for machines, the civil industry would collapse. Captain Guest having dealt generally with the figures in the Votes themselves, said the exact economy effected in the Estimates under the recommendations of the Geddes Com mittee was ^6,500,000. Half a million of that was a reduction in war liabilities, and therefore they could not claim more than ^6;ooo,ooo, or 37 per cent, of their original estimated expenditure. He wished to take that opportunity of in forming those outside that the Air Ministry would in future grant no more commissions than they could guarantee careers for. They had also decided to make a further experiment with non-commissioned pilots by recommendation and selec tions from men under twenty-five and not above the rank of Sergeant, or below that of leading Aircraftsman. Proceeding to outline a new scheme of internal organisation at the Air Ministry, he said that up to the present the Service side has been represented on the Air Council by one member only, the Chief of the Air Staff. Now he proposed to place the Council more on a footing with the Board of Admiralty and the Army Council, and to broaden the basis of responsi bility. The Chief of the Air Staff would continue to be senior member of the Council, and would have control of the Opera tions^ Intelligence, Training and Works Department, but he would be relieved of all duties connected with discipline, personnel, organisation, equipment, and transportation. The Director-General of Supply and Research and the Director- General of Personnel would share those duties. Dealing with the Civil Aviation Vote of ^350,000, he said ^200,000 of it was taken up with subsidies and ^80,000 by meteorology. As it would take a considerable time to bring this Department into conformity with the reduced scale of the other Departments, he had invited Sir Frederick Sykes, whose appointment as Director-General would normally terminate on April 1, to retain his post for a further period of one year. The contraction of civil aviation was in no way the fault of the Department over which Sir F. Sykes presided. It was the difficulties of the times in which they lived that were responsible. It might be that in time to come this side of their work would expand. With regard to the position of the airships, he said that the Government had reluctantly come to the decision to hand over the entire fleet to the Disposals Board. On the subject of the cross-Channel services,.he said that he was very much in favour of maintaining them, as they acted as a demonstra tion and an advertisement of what was now possible. He also regarded them as the initial stages in the future develop ment of schemes of Imperial communication. We had, as an Empire, a much more vital interest in civil aviation than any other country. It was the definite policy of the Ministry steadily to develop the further links in the Imperial chain, and as soon as the various stages were safely opened to hand them over to civil aviation to be developed on com mercial lines. It was his duty to look beyond the horizon and to the probable future, and when one considered the rapid advances during the last ten years it was impossible not to indulge in some flight of imagination. Two hundred miles an hour was now a normal rate, and 560 miles' continuous flight an ordinary performance. With the exception of fog, weather was now a negligible consideration. From the point of view of national defence, he held that the force was now powerful enough to defend our shores against invasion from the air. It was his belief that in the next few years powerful aircraft would progressively expand in areas in which enemy ships could not move with impunity. This would bring about further economies in ships of war. The possibilities of the bomb dropped from above were so far only partially explored ; but it had been shown that they were terrible. One bomb dropped from the air could destroy the most powerful battleship in a few minutes. In ten years' time he believed that a combat between the forces of the air and the forces of the sea would have become a grotesque and patheti cally one-sided affair. In the field of transportation he could see aeroplanes conveying small portions of artillery to the lines of operation, so dispensing with vulnerable lines of communication. When the finances of the nation justified the capital expenditure, such expenditure would give a substantial return in the decrease of blood and treasure in the minor wars in which an Empire like ours was constantly engaged. The Air Force was a wondrous creation. It was a service of young men, enthusiastic men, led and inspired by an incomparable chief. It was this service which would even tually have to meet the first clash of war should it ever come again. The battle in the air would be joined before the Army reservist had reached the station or the battleship had got up steam. That was the duty of the Air Force, and it was with this forecast that he confidently submitted the Estimates to the House. Major-General Seely congratulated the Air Minister on his lucid statement, and also on the result of the careful enquiry made by the* Committee of Imperial Defence, which had definitely disposed of attacks made upon the establish ment of a separate Air Ministry and a separate Air Force. He rejoiced also at the decision that the education of the airman was to be altogether distinct from that of men of other forces. He pleaded with the Secretary of State to try to prevent the standardisation of manuals, and not to let his manuals increase too fast. I,et him keep the education of the Royal Air Force what it really should be—a thing constantly seeking new methods and new ideas., He urged that the Secretary of State should have a seat in the Cabinet, with the First Lord of the Admiralty and the War Minister. This should be the rule—all three should be in the Cabinet or none should be in the Cabinet. He regarded it as a very serious thing to give up all practical research into airships while other nations were carrying on researches, and he could not believe that it was wise completely to abandon experi ments in this matter. So far as economy was concerned, he thought they had probably gone quite as far as it was safe to go. He had been furnished with some remarkable figures as to what the French were doing. His figures differed very slightly from those of the Secretary of State, and only in one particular from those given by General Groves in The Times. At the end of last year the French had 126 squadrons of eight or nine machines each, and of these only four- nineteenths were abroad. If their present programme was carried out, the French Government would have 220 squad rons, of which from 165 to 170 would be at home, in order 192
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