FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0181.PDF
,RCH 17, 1927 ESTIMATES SPEECH OF THE SECRETARY OF StATE FOR AIR • N- his speech before the House, Sir Samuel Hoare said that . ,iere were three significant features in the present Estimates, 'hey were a provision for a substantially stronger Air Force :..r less money than was needed last year, a large reduction ,:•, the expenditure upon the Middle East, and the considered policy of replacing old machines by new types. It was not •'iften that gain was obtained for less money, and particularly in the case of a highly technical service like the R.A.F., and in a period when developments were constantly adding to the cost of the. material. He hoped then that it would be a pleasant surprise to find that he was making an increase of i early 10 per cent, in the Air Force strength with estimates that were 3 per cent, less than those of 1926 ; but he uttered the yarning that though this 3 per cent, reduction had been made possible by various means, heavy commitments in connection with the defence programme were bound to involve an increase i .f expenditure in future years. For the time being we had to be thankful for the 3 per cent, reduction with the 10 per cent, increase in strength during the most difficult financial year the Chancellor had had to face. He had never withheld the tact that in past years we had been relying on existing stocks of machines and engines. These were now almost exhausted, and new types had reached the stage when they could be adopted by the Air Force. The taxpayer might regret the exhaustion of these stocks upon financial grounds, but anyone interested in the progress of aviation would welcome the change to modern machines. All the Home Defence Regular Squadrons were already equipped with these, and he hoped that by the end of the year two-thirds of the whole Force would be in the same position. An important point he wished to emphasise was their intention not to order any more types of war-time design. There was a net increase of /33P.000, or, if like was compared with like and the over- head cut was taken into account, a net increase of £630,000, to provide for this modern equipment. It could not be said, therefore, that his efforts to reduce expenditure were at the sacrifice of new material and research. There was a cut of ifS80,000 in the expenditure on the Middle East, and year after year, in accordance with his pledges, there had been progressive reductions in this quarter. in 1921 the expenditure on Iraq alone was upwards of £20,000,000, whilst today it was about one-tenth that sum. What better example of the efficiency of the Air Command could there be than that ? The internal progress of that country was revealed by the fact that during the last twelve months there had been no military operation of a serious kind. He proposed further reductions in the Imperial garrison during the next year. < )n the question of Imperial Air Policy, for the first time it received its proper emphasis in the Air Estimates. Air policy, to be anything, had to be Imperial and not parochial ; mobile, and not local. Full value of aircraft would not be obtained without organizing Imperial air routes. Mobility over them world make possible the concentration of military and civil power, which could only be done if the Empire worked together. The foundation of this Imperial policy had been laid and the structure was rising above the ground. As an example of this we had the proposed number of co- operative flights across the whole length of Africa, from Cape 1 own to. Cairo. South Africa and the Crown Colonies were helping in this plan, and it might lead to a regular service between Egypt and South Africa. The doctrine of the Imperial Air Policy made us think of air power as a great < oncentrated force rather than of air power as a collection of localised fragments. As in the case of naval strategy, which did not depend on locking up numbers of local defence forces "i particular ports, but upon the power of concentrating an1 'verwhelming force at a threatened point, so would air '•irategy be directed towards organising Imperial air routes •>• which aircraft could concentrate power in a short period • time. This would hold out definite hopes of a reduction • expenditure, for it meant we could dispense with some of •'"''(•' localised defences. The success of the airship had a: '-'<!ct bearing on this doctrine of mobility. The two new ' "hips being built would, he believed, be capable of trans- '• :"ting more than 200 fully armed men and a complete •' 'tadron of aeroplanes. If this was so, there would be a; t reduction in time taken to reinforce a threatened ' "t : thus mobility would mean economy. In pursuance( 'he policy it was proposed to make long-distance Empire ;' 'ts. like the African flight mentioned, a regular part of1 K.A.F. training. The preparation of landing grounds for the route to Singapore was to begin and, for the first time,a flight of flying-boats was being sent to the East, one of whose duties would be to co-operate with the Royal Aus-tralian Air Force. It was not to be thought that the delibera- tions of the Imperial Conference, which this Imperial policyfollowed, were restricted to air strategy and defence. The agreed principles concerning the latter were equally applic-able to civil progress. Imperial air routes were to its advant- age as much as to military aviation. For the first time theEstimates showed a sum of ^93,600 for the support of a regular service between Egypt and Basra, which, he hoped,would shortly extent to Karachi. This link was admittedly limited, but even as it was it caused a saving of one weekin the transport of mails to India ; and from that could be imagined the advantages when the full extension was estab-lished between England and the great cities of India. Referring briefly to his recent flight to the East, the AirMinister said that he undertook the first flight because he realised the importance of the service, and one of his otherobjects was a discussion with the Government of India on the interesting proposals they were considering for thestrengthening of the Air Force and starting flying lines in India. Since his flight, the Cairo-Basra section had begun,and Karachi business men were using it. for express com- munications, and on more than one occasion there had beenstraphangers in the machine between Baghdad and Basra. The discussion had been very valuable to him. Following itbut he did not presume to say because of it, India had embarked on a programme of civil aviation which should beof great value to the country and to Great Britain. In eulogising the British pilots, both military and civil,the Secretary for Air did not think that sufficient attention had always been given to the excellence of the work that had beencarried out in the very difficult conditions by the Air Force on the Indian Frontier. Not long ago, many said that themountainous nature of the country rendered effective air work impossible, and that activities were so restricted as to makethe Air Force in India of little account. His flight along the frontier had shown him that our force there took a mostintegral part in the defence of the country. On the question of material, machines and engines, SirSamuel Hoare claimed progress in certain directions. The two airships under construction differed materially from thewar designs. Stainless steel, oil engines, new methods of bracing and girder construction would make them strongerand safer than any of their predecessors. As to aeroplanes, the modern passenger type could carry 20 passengers at110 m.p.h., as compared with 6 passengers and 90 m.p.h. of a typical 1919 machine. In 1923 the average weight ofengines for every unit of horse-power was over 2 lbs., which had now been reduced by over 25 per cent. Three years ago,an engine required a complete overhaul after 75 hours' running. The latest types could be relied on for 250 hours.There were also less startling advancements in meteorology and wireless. He instanced the importance of these factorson his recent flight. When the wireless failed, or the reports received were inadequate, it left bewilderment and uncer-tainty. It was only now that the constant need of wireless and meteorology was beginning to be realised. Wing Com-mander Pulford had told the Air Minister that lack of good weather reports was one of the. chief difficulties in the magnifi-cent flighr across Africa. He was glad that the principal governments of the Empire were taking interest in these twoimportant questions. In summing up, Sir Samuel Hoare said that the central principle of the air policy had to be Imperial,which applied both to military and civil aviation, and that Empire air routes were esssential for the latter if we were tobring England within 2 days of Canada, 5 days of India, 6 days of South Africa, and 11 days of Australia. He saw theprospect of using air force as an instrument of economy, and not as a stimulus to greater expenditure, and therefore makingaviation an asset and not a liability to the British Empire. It was from that point of view that he asked the attention ofthe House to the Estimates. DISCUSSION ON THE AIR ESTIMATES ME. LEES SMI^H (Keighley, Lab.) observed that the Air Ministry was anadventurous, aggressive, confident department, but not an economical one. That the air expenditure must not be regarded as an additional expensebecause it was met by corresponding reductions in the Army expenditure was a mere fallacy when the latter were looked into. They had to see wherethis Air force expansion programme was going to lead eventually. In 1919 the scheme was to allow a gradual increase up to a maximum of 32squadrons, and two years later that was cancelled, and an increase of 15 161
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
