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Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0123.PDF
FEBRUARY 28, 1924 AIR DEFENCE OK February 19 the late Minister for Air, Lieut.-Col. Sir Samuel Hoare, moved the following resolution :— " That this House, whilst earnestly desiring the further limitation of armaments so far as is consistent with the safety and integrity of the Empire, affirms the principle laid down by the late Government and accepted by the Imperial Conference that Great Britain must maintain a Home Defence Air Force of sufficient strength to give adequate protection against air attack by the strongest air force within striking distance of her shores." In moving the resolution, Sir Samuel Hoare said he would like to make two over-riding observations, which should be read into everything he said. One was that he wished to make it quite clear that in making comparisons with the air force of France there was no suggestion, disguised or undisguised, of hostility towards our friends and Allies, and that he was not suggesting that a breach in the friendly relations between the two countries was likely. The second observation was that he was just as apprehensive as any member of the House in seeing a possibility of a new armaments race starting, and provided that in the meanwhile no risk was taken with our national defence he was prepared to look sympathetically at any attempt the Government might make to bring about a general reduction of armaments. He thought the Prime Minister was wise the other day when he said that an international conference must come at the end and not at the beginning of negotiations. As to a treaty of mutual guarantee, he would like to say a word of caution. There was a risk that in entering upon such a treaty we might be increasing and not diminishing our commitments. The Conservative party was just as anxious as the other parties to see a limitation of armaments, provided that limitation could be general, and provided also that it was consistent with the safety of the British Empire. He could not help thinking that the Prime Minister, when he entered upon the many difficult negotiations that were before him, would find that it was not a disadvantage, at any rate, to have behind him a supreme Navy, and that it was not an advantage to have behind him an Air Force which, while it was excellent in quality, was altogether insignificant in quantity. He wished to press the Government to define their attitude on what he regarded as the most urgent, and least controversial, aspect of national defence, the question of air defence. He said advisedly the least controversial and the most urgent question of national defence, because he could not believe that there was any substantial section of members in the House that could regard with equanimity the fact that the capital of the Empire and the shores of this country were in so vulnerable a condition against the most terrible of modern attacks in warfare. Sir Samuel Hoare then outlined the air position today, and went back to the time when the late Government took office eighteen months ago. He became Secretary of State for Air in October, 1922, just at the most critical time of the Chanak crisis. At that moment we had within these shores only 24 first-line aeroplanes, trained and available for home defence. Owing to certain action which the late Government took, we had now about 80 first-line machines definitely allocated to home defence. At the present moment there were in France about 1,000 first-line aeroplanes. Of these about 600 were included in what was known as the French Independent Striking Force. Then there were another 400 over and above this figure that were allocated to duties with the French Army. Speaking generally and not going into details, it was true to say that there were in France at the present moment about 1,000 first-line machines against a little more than 100 in this country. If you took the figures of the French Independent Striking Force, you had 600 machines as compared with our 80 home defence machines. If you added a certain number of the army co-operation machines, the comparison was between 1,000 and 100. Every hon. member would agree that that was a striking disparity, and he wondered whether all hon. members realised fully its significance. During the War the greatest amount of bombs that was ever dropped upon these shores, in the space of a single month was 12 tons. Eight hundred machines could drop 170 tons of bombs upon London, not in the course of a month, but in the course of 24 hours, and keep up a bomb attack of 57 tons per day for an indefinite period. He would draw attention to a most interesting book that had just been published by a most distinguished French airman, M. Ren6 Fonck, not only a great war pilot, but a very influential member of the Chamber of Deputies,'the Chairman of the French Aeronautic League. M.Fonck calculated that a force of 500 aeroplanes could, in the space of a single night, ' bliterate from the face of the earth a city a kilometre square. He calculated, further, that a force of this size could wipe off the surface of the globe a city as big as Paris in the course of a fortnight or three weeks. He thought that those two or three examples should be sufficient to impress upon every hon. member the gravity of the question and the extreme urgency of this aspect of the problem of national defence. As soon as he became responsible for the Air Force, he put these facts before the then Prime Minister, Mr. Bonar Law, and the result was that they set in motion the comparatively small scheme of expansion that was initiated in the time of the right hon. Member for Stroud (Captain Guest). But it was quite obvious that that expansion was not sufficient. On that account Mr. Bonar Law appointed a Committee of Investigation of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The result of that inquiry was announced to the House last June. The Government accepted the principle embodied in his resolution, that, however improbable war might be, none the less, a country like ours could not afford to be in so vulnerable a position, and that, therefore, an Air Force must be built up sufficient to defend these shore from any possible air attack. He at once took action and set on foot a programme for carrying the principle into effect. As a first stage of expansion they agreed upon an increase of the Air Force for the purpose of home defence which would bring it up to a strength of 600 first-line machines. That was a strength of 52 squadrons, devoted primarily to home defence. The first question that he wished to ask the Government was, were they'going on with that expansion for home defence or were they not ? The House must keep in mind the fact that, however insistently they pressed on with this expansion, it must, in the nature of things, take a considerable time. He therefore wanted to ask the Government whether they were going to press on with it as strongly as he was attempting to press on with it while he was in office ? Were they going on with his programme of buying aerodromes ? Were they going on with his programme of enlisting larger numbers of boys ? Were they going on with his programme of ordering machines ? On all these points he should like as clear an answer as the Government could give. Then there was another question. Was the Government going to adopt the general principle which he was attempting to apply to the constitution of the force ? This, he would remind the House, was a force for home defence, a force that it was not intended to take to the more distant parts of the Empire on garrison duty, and because it was a home defence force based upon these shores you could apply to it methods of recruitment and training that you would not apply to a force that might be going, say, to India or Iraq. On that ground he embodied in his programme large elements of what he would call non-regular personnel for these home IN PARLIAMENT defence squadrons. In his programme there was to be a nucleus of regular squadrons, but there were also to be squadrons rather in the nature of territorial squadrons, to be called auxiliary Air Force squadrons, and, in addition, there were to be special reserve squadrons. Besides that, they intended to carry out as much of the non-flying duties as possible by civilian labour. He should like to ask the Government, as his second question : Were they going to continue this general framework of non-regular personnel in addition to regular personnel, and, if they were going to continue it, were they going to introduce without delay the Auxiliary Air Force Bill ? While he was in office he did what he could, side by side with this military expansion, to develop civil aviation in various ways, and perhaps the most conspicuous way was by bringing together the various small civil aviation transport enterprises into a strong company. Before he left office, an agreement was signed between the Government and the new enterprise. He would be assured if the Under-Secretary of State for Air would confirm his belief, namely, that this Government was just as anxious as the last Government to see civil aviation developing, and to see it put upon such a basis that in the future it would not longer be spoon-fed and dependent upon subsidies, but would be built to stand upon its own footing and develop, just like any other economic enterprise, and gradually drive its lines across the whole face of Europe. Lastly—and he did not wish to labour this side of the question—he would like to say something with reference to the development of airships. He believed, if civil airships were developed just in the same way as civil aero planes, they would gradually build up a reserve both of skilled personnel and technical material which might stand them in very good stead at a time of emergency. He would not say more than this at present—that they would think it most regrettable if, after these months of investigation and years of negotiation, the scheme of airship development upon which they were virtually agreed when they went out of office should be held up, and that there should be another long period during which no airship development was taking place. The whole of this programme, a programme under which the British Air Force was going to be doubled, was, when the full expenditure came into being—not this year, but in future years—not going to amount to more than between £5,000,000 and £6,000,000 a year. That might be a great sum, but, at any rate, it was a very small sum as compared with the far larger sums spent upon other branches of national defence. In conclusion Sir Samuel said : " Perhaps mere important than that, this resolution is almost word for word the resolution agreed to by the Imperial Conference, and I can tell the House that in all the field of national defence that was surveyed by the Dominion Premiers, there was none that excited more interest, there was none that occasioned more anxiety, than the question of air defence. Therefore, I would press upon the House that they should accept this resolution this evening, a resolution which, as I say, calls for the very barest minimum of Air Force defence, a resolution which was agreed to by the Dominion Premiers at the Imperial Conference, and a resolution that, in my view, embodies a policy and a programme that is more vitally urgent to the safety of the country than any other phase of national defence at the present moment." The Under-Secretary of State for Air (Mr. Leach) said he must admit that Sir Samuel Hoare had put his case with very much temperance of speech, and he would seek to meet the request for information from the Government. Sir Samuel had drawn a very alarming picture of the disparity of the Force between ourselves and France. Whether that be so or not, the responsibility did not lie with them. It was their legacy and not. their responsibility, but for the moment he must decline to be alarmed about it. He was glad to hear the right hon. gentleman tell of his earnest desire for a further limitation of armaments, consistent, as he put it, with the safety and integrity of the Empire. Everybody wanted a decrease of armaments, perhaps even the armament makers. Everybody in the world wanted less armaments. The extraordinary thing was that what everybody wanted nobody could have. The one thing that was knocked on the head during the War was the doctrine that in order to get peace we must be prepared for war. All the nations in the world that prepared most got the most war. Preparedness was not the best weapon in diplomacy. The best weapon in diplomacy was to have a sound and righteous cause. He always thought that preparedness indicated a fear of one's neighbours, a disbelief in the righteousness of the intentions of those neighbours. He was not a disbeliever iu the righteousness of France's intentions. He was reminded by this resolution of an ancient military slogan : " Trust in God, but keep your powder dry." It was a cynical motto. Two thousand years ago, a great reformer laid down the principles for solving this problem of national defence. Most unfortunately, nobody accepted His views on the matter. They were buried with Him. Mr. Leach wanted to see some new excavation works to raise the lid of the Sarcophagus of the New Testament. He believed a new Gospel was needed, and suggested that if you wanted peace, you must prepare for peace. The right hon. and gallant gentleman had asked in plain, explicit terms were they going on with the expansion scheme ? He (Mr. Leach) was going to tell him in plain and explicit terms that there was no change in the policy of the Government for the time being on this matter. That plan for the time being would not be interfered with. Continuity had been agreed to by the Government. The scheme itself was being worked out in definite stages, aud it would not debar them from taking full advantage of any new movement in the direction of disarmament, or in the reduction of armaments. They would welcome a new Washington Conference, and would do what in them lay to make such a Conference possible. The Treaty of Mutual Guarantees proposed by the Temporary Mixed Commission of the League of Nations was already in draft. It was now being considered by the various Governments. If tha Treaty be approved, reductions would presumably be practicable. The right hon. gentleman who had moved the resolution had pointed out the difficulties which stood in the way of quick increase of air squadrons. The scheme was going forward, and any deviation from it, if contemplated by this Government, would be brought before the House, and would have to be sanctioned there. As regard the Auxiliary Air Force, Mr. Leach said that that scheme was going forward. The Auxiliary Air Force and the Air Force Reserve Bill was on the list of essential Bills to be submitted to the House. Concerning the question what steps were being taken in regard to ordering machines of a new type to meet the requirements of this new force, he said that the whole scheme was growing up in regular and definite stages, and sufficient machines were being ordered to equip those squadrons that would come into being during the coming year. It must be borne in mind that during the formation of the squadrons, and pending the delivery of the new machines, some of the squadrons would, for the time being, have only training machines and present types of service machines. Time would remedy that. In regard to civil aviation and the proposals for bringing four companies 123
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