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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0548.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 14, 1929 Capt. Reid (Warrington—Con.) said that the defence of the country haddeveloped into a vicious circle, and he endorsed every word that had been said on the subject by the Member for Chatham (Lieut.-"Col. Moore-Brabazon).Given the slightest opportunity, every one of the three Services was prepared to embark on a programme which meant a considerable increase. It wasincumbent on the House to decide, consistently with economy, which, if any, of the three Services was correct in its claims. We ought, once for all, togive up the policy of laisser fairc. But the trouble was that the two senior Services had dug themselves in very comfortably. They refused to learn anylessons from the war, or to move one inch. Geographically situated as we were, this country, of all countries in the world, was the most vulnerable toair attack. Putting this together with the fact that go-ahead civil aviation was essential to sound defence in the future, the following figures were some-what significant. Great Britain possessed to-day a total of but 21 commer- cial machines, while Germany and France each possessed several hundreds.Of the 42,200 miles of air routes in Europe, Germany had 18,000 miles, France 12,500 miles, and Great Britain only 1,080 miles. " During the summerof 1928 German commercial aircraft flew 40,000 miles daily, against our daily average of 3,000 miles. These figures spoke for themselves. Byspending more on the Air Force and less on the Army and Navy they would not only benefit the National Exchequer, but also add to the security of thecountry. Mr.'James Hudson (Huddersfield—Lab.) said he would ask, as he had atprevious debates, what good should we do, even from the point of view of defence, by the spending of this money in the provision of 32 so-called homedefence squadrons—or the 52 squadrons towards which the Air Minister is working * He did not believe that iu the long run any money spent uponthe air could ultimately secure the defence which was pretended. The way out of the situation was lor the Foreign Secretary to come to an air agreement with our nearest neighbour. He said that when he went to Canada last year he found tremendous strides had been made with their Air Forcefor civilian ends. He felt that if the money that was being voted had for its purpose the greater development of routes and communications and the like,they would make no more objection whatever, and would give the Minister their hearty support.Rear-Admiral Sueter (Hertford—Con.) said he considered the Air Minister had not secured enough money for the Air Service. For the thirdytar in succession he had taken one-seventh of the amount allotted for the fighting Services and he believed the country could afford more. He couldnot understand why the Navy took half the money allotted for defence. This was a case where we wanted a Ministry of Defence to go into the wholequestion of the expenditure on the services. They had only to pay off two or three battleships, and they would have plenty of money for the developmentof civil aviation. It was high time that the Navy was forced to give up some money in order that civil aviation could be developed.(Rear-Admiral Sueter also asked questions regarding the Handley Page slots, parachutes for sea-going aircraft, and airships. He also referred to theair rescues from Kabul.) In conclusion, he saidjthat when the present Prime Minister cameinto office again—he knew he would—he hoped he would nothave the right hon. gentleman (Sir Samuel Hoare) as Minister for Air, but would select him as Minister of Defence.Mr. Garro-Jones (Hackney, S.—Lib.) congratulated Capt. Guest on the services he had rendered to civil aviation, but he criticised the NationalFlying Services scheme as one which would be likely to give a severe set- back to civil aviation. He objected to the scheme because he believed it wasgoing to fail. If the company were to secure a subsidised monopoly, it would destroy its competitors and in five- or ten years, when the Secretary for Airlooked lor civil aviation development, he would find that the company upon which he had relied had failed to deliver the goods, and that the othersubsidiary organisations had been destroyed by its operations. The scheme was opposed by practically every aviation interest and by independent criticsin every sphere of aviation. Regarding civil aviation in other parts of the world, he stated that in our overseas territory and in the internal territory ofthis country there had been no development of civil aviation. There had not been a single new line started within the borders of this country duringthe past five and a half years ; there was not a single regular seaplane service flying in the home waters of these islands, yet one would have thoughtthat of the possible lines of development for us, a maritime nation, we should have done something to develop the seaplane service. In every part of theworld we were being left behind by other countries in the development of civil aviation. That lamentable position was, he thought, due to the attitudeof the Air Minister in refusing to pay a subsidy to any company for developing a British air line abroad without consultation with Imperial Airways. Didit mean that any company which brought forward plans for a British air line abroad could secure a share of the subsidy paid to Imperial Airways t(Sir Samuel Hoare here stated that in considering any proposal he would naturally take the best).Sir Harry Brittain (Acton—Con.) said it was agreed that in personnel and material British aviation was second to none, but it had dropped mostpainfully from its record at the head of other countries. He would like to add to the comparative figures already given as regards the United States.In 1927, l,S>00 machines were turned out; in 1928, 5,000; and for 1929 it was expected to be 12,000. It had not been stated that of the 12,00nmiles of air routes in America, 8,000 were open for night flying ; we had been given the number of aerodromes, but were not told that over 2,00ocities had air ports or land marked for the purpose, and throughout the country over 400 chambers of commerce from San Francisco to New Yorkhad aviation centres. He would like to ask the Air Secretary a question with regard to the West Indies. Was it still too late to get a British flying-boatservice there ? He was told on the last occasion that was a job for the West Indian Government, but he would point out that in these centres of population, SO miles apart, it was very difficult to take the lead. They were not a Dominion. On the few occasions they got together they had to do so byboat—a very long and tedious operation. He did not know any part of the world where a seaplane service would be more useful than in the West Indies,which were the nearest link between North and South America. We must let the people of these islands realise what flying-boats could do. Theperfectly splendid flight of the Royal Air Force to Australia, round Australia, up to Hong Kong and back to Singapore, certainly the finest flight evermade by any squadron, showed what magnificent machines British flying boats were, and if we could only get a squadron to go out there and showthe West Indies what flying-boats could do they would, he thought, make a start in this direction. But could we not also give them help from theMother Country?—it would be a pity to hand this over to the Americans. While he had great admiration for Imperial Airways it seemed impossiblefor one monopoly to develop all the possibilities of aviation in every secton of the Empire. Lieut.-Com. Kenworthy (Hull Central—Lab.) also referred to seaplaneservices, with special regard to Hull, and he considered the Humber suitable in every way as a seaplane port. He pointed out that there were no signsin the estimates, the right hon. gentleman's speech, or the memorandum that there had been any change of policy as a result of the signing or ratifica-tion of the Kellogg Pact. (Debate interrupted for private business, and continued later.)Major Hills (Ripon—Con.), regarding civil aviation, said people might attack Imperial Airways as much as they liked, but route miles and milesflown were valueless for comparison. The real test was passengers and tons carried per mile flown. On the question of disarmament he believed aMinister of Defence would cause a big reduction in the amount we. spent on our Navy, and that would forward disarmament more than anything else. Lieut.'-Commander Burney (L'xbridge—Con.) said it wa<, magnificentthat although the estimates of £20,000,000 were mainly for war purposes, with £500,000 for civil aviation, every speech which had been made had dealtalmost exclusively with civil aviation. It may be that that reflected a realisa- tion on the part of the public as a whole that we were now within measur-able distance of making civil aviation fly by itself. He thought the Secretary of State for Air ought to be congratulated on firmly adhering to the. policyof one monopoly company which was laid down in the initial stages, and not being influenced by the specious arguments of those who did not understandthe facts of the situation. He considered that the Air Force at its present size would not be a fortnight's supply of men and machines on the scalein which they were used in the late war. He did not think that in an endea- vour to re-create the economic security of the Empire it would be too muchto use 10 per cent, of what was devoted to defence on forcing civil aviation along. Civil aviation, he said, must be developed on an international basis ;it could not be developed in any other way. The more international barriers were broken down, and people thought internationally, the more it would berealised that war between civilised and contiguous countries was nothing but civil war. Sir Philip SassoonJ(Under-Secretary for Air), replying to the debate, saidthe Air Ministry had 115 aerodromes and landing grounds. The Ministry was fully alive to the fact that it had not got enough of these and that was on<of the reasons why this flying service scheme should come in, as it would provide 100 more aerodromes. With the new routes and the extensionsfrom India to Australia and elsewhere we would have 22,000 miles of air routes which was better than in the German Empire. The question of a combinationof air and railway services was uot being Ityst sight nf. Part of the new Indian Air Service would be supplemented by the railways. The trunk air lineswhich the Air Ministry was developing would be open highways for all countries. The trial flights of the airship* would take place in the spring.He could not follow the grievance in connection with National Flying Services, and thought they would give us more pilots, that we would get payment forresults, and that we would get many more aerodromes. In spite of all that we would not in any way interfere with existing light aeroplane clubs, but, onthe contrary, in a great many cases, help them. The Secretary for Air was the originator of the scheme of light aeroplane clubs, and no one was moreanxious than he that they should succeed. Labour Motion on DisarmamentMr. Bellamy (Ashton-under-Lvne. Lab.) moved the following resolution • — RE-EQUIPPING THE ROYAL AIR FORCE The Blackburn "Ripon" Torpedo Bomber, Napier The Blackburn "Iris "Reconnaissance Flying-Boat," T.inn " pnaino three Rolls-Royce "Condor" engines. 224
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