FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0528.PDF
SUGGESTED AERIAL WARFARE RULES Despatch from the First British Delegate to the International Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Warfare THE despatch from the first British Delegate to the Interna tional Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Warfare, together with the General Report of the Commission of Jurists to consider and report upon the Revision of the Rules of Warfare, was published as a White Paper (Command No. 2201) recently. The despatch can be obtained from H.M. Stationery Office, Kingsway, the price being Is. net. The report is in two sections, Part I dealing with rules for the con trol of " Radio " in time of war, and Part II with rules of aerial warfare. In addition to the articles themselves, ex haustive explanatory notes and comments are given, but below we give only the actual articles, and we would advise readers desiring fuller particulars to obtain a copy of the Report. Following are the articles in numerical order :— 1. The rules of aerial warfare apply to all aircraft, whether lighter or heavier than air, irrespective of whether they are, or are not, capable of floating on water. 2. The following shall be deemed to be public aircraft: a) Military aircraft, (b) Non-military aircraft exclusively employed in the public service. All other aircraft shall be deemed to be private aircraft. 3. A military aircraft shall bear an external mark indicating its nationality and military character. 4. A public non-military aircraft employed for customs or police purposes shall carry papers evidencing the fact that it is exclusively employed in the public service. Such an air craft shall bear an external mark indicating its nationality and its public non-military character. 5. Public non-military aircraft other than those employed for customs or police purposes shall in time of war bear the same external marks, and for the purposes of these rules shall be treated on the same footing as private aircraft. 6. Aircraft not comprised in articles 3 and 4 and deemed to be private aircraft shall carry such papers and bear such ex ternal marks as are required by the rules in force in their own country. These marks must indicate their nationality and cliciTcictGr 7. The external marks required by the above articles shall be so affixed that they cannot be altered in flight. They shall be as large as is practicable, and shall be visible from above, from below, and from each side. 8. The external marks, prescribed by the rules in force in each State, shall be notified promptly to all other Powers. Modifications adopted in time of peace of the rules prescribing external marks shall be notified to all other Powers before they are brought into force. Modifications of such rules adopted at the outbreak of war or during hostilities shall be notified by each Power as soon as possible to all other Powers, and at latest when they are communicated to its own fighting forces. 9. A belligerent non-military aircraft, whether public or private,, may be converted into a military aircraft, provided that the conversion is effected within the jurisdiction of the belligerent State to which the aircraft belongs and not on the high seas. 10. No aircraft may posses more than one nationality. 11. Outside the jurisdiction of any State, belligerent or neutral, all aircraft shall have full freedom of passage through the air and of alighting. 12. In time of war any State, whether belligerent or neutral, may forbid or regulate the entrance, movement or sojourn of aircraft within its jurisdiction. 13. Military aircraft are alone entitled to exercise belliger ent rights. 14. A military aircraft shall be under the command of a person duly commissioned or enlisted in the military service of the State ; the crew must be exclusively military. 15. Members of the crew of a military aircraft shall wear a fixed distinctive emblem of such character as to be recog nisable at a distance in case they become separated from their aircraft. 16. No aircraft other than a belligerent military aircraft shall engage in hostilities in any form. The term '' hostilities includes the transmission during flight of military intelligence for the immediate use of a belligerent. No private aircraft, when outside the jurisdiction of its own country, shall be armed in time of war. 17. The principles laid down in the Geneva Convention, 1906, and the Convention for the adaptation of the said Convention to Maritime War (No. X of 1907) shall apply to aerial warfare and to flying ambulances, as well as to the control over flying ambulances exercised by a belligerent commanding officer. In order to enjoy the protection and privileges allowed to mobile medical units by the Geneva Convention, 1906. flying ambulances must bear the distinctive emblem of the Red Cross in addition to the usual distinguishing marks. 18. The use of tracer, incendiary or explosive projectiles by or against aircraft is not prohibited. This provision applies equally to States which are parties to the Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868, and to those which are not. 19. The use of false external marks is forbidden. 20. When an aircraft has been disabled, the occupants, when endeavouring to escape by means of a parachute, must not be attacked in the course of their descent. 21. The use of aircraft for the purpose of disseminating propaganda shall not be treated as an illegitimate means of warfare. Members of the crews of such aircraft must not be deprived of their rights as prisoners of war on the charge that they have committed such an act. 22. Aerial bombardment for the purpose of terrorising the civilian population, of destroying or damaging private property not of military character, or of injuring non-com batants is prohibited. 23. Aerial bombardment for the purpose of enforcing compliance with requisitions in kind or payment of con tributions in money is prohibited. 24. (1) Aerial bombardment is legitimate only when directed at a military objective, that is to say, an object of which the destruction or injury would constitute a distinct military advantage to the belligerent. (2) Such bombard ment is legitimate only when directed exclusively at the following objectives : Military forces ; military works ; military establishments or depots; factories constituting important and well-known centres engaged in the manu facture of arms, ammunition or distinctively military supplies ; lines of communication or transportation used for military purposes. (3) The bombardment of cities, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings not in the immediate neighbourhood of the operations of land forces is prohibited. In cases where the objectives specified in paragraph 2 are so situated that they cannot be bombarded without the indiscriminate bombardment of the civilian population, the aircraft must abstain from bombardment. (4) In the immediate neigh bourhood of the operations of land forces, the bombardment of cities, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings is legitimate provided that there exists a reasonable presumption that the military concentration is sufficiently important to justify such bombardment, having regard to the danger thus caused to the civilian population. (5) A belligerent State is liable to pay compensation for injuries to person or to property caused by the violation by any of its officers or forces of the provisions of this article. 25. In bombardment by aircraft, all necessary steps must be taken by the commander to spare as far as possible buildings dedicated to public worship, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospital ships, hospitals and other places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided such buildings, objects or places, are not at the time used for military purposes. Such buildings, objects and places, must by day be indicated by marks visible to aircraft. The use of marks to indicate other buildings, objects or places, than those specified above is to be deemed an act of perfidy. The marks used as aforesaid shall be in the case of buildings protected under the Geneva Convention the red cross on a white ground, and in the case of other protected buildings a large rectangular panel divided diagonally into two pointed triangular portions, one black and the other white. A belli gerent who desires to secure by night the protection for the hospitals and other privileged buildings above mentioned must take the necessary measures to render the special signs referred to sufficiently visible. 26. The following special rules are adopted for the purpose of enabling States to obtain more efficient protection for important historic monuments situated within their territory, provided that they are willing to refrain from the use of such monuments and a surrounding zone for military purposes, and to accept a special regime for their inspection :— (1) A State shall be entitled, if it sees fit, to establish a zone of protection round such monuments situated in its 528
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
