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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0493.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS uounded in 1909 FIRST AERONAUTICALC1VEEKLY IN THE^WORLD OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB Xo. 1367. Vol. XXVII. MARCH 7, 1935 Thursdays, Price 6d. By Post, 7Ad. Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truditur. Watloo, London. Telephone : Hop £333 (50 lines). HERTFORD ST.. COVENTRY. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone; Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopregs, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2911. 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Ilifle, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars «12. 26B, RENFIELD ST. GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : Hide, Glaseow Telephone: Central 4837. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home and Canada : Year, £113 0. Other Countries : Year, £ 1 15 0. 6 months, 16s. (id. 6 months, 17s. 6d. 3 months, 8s. 3d. 3 months, 8s.'."!. Def, ence r HIS year the interest aroused by the Air Estimates has been largely overshadowed by the '' Statement Relating to Defence'' issued over the initials of the Prime Minister, who is also chairman of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Rarely has such a lear statement on defence problems been set forth by ay Government. Certain principles are laid down which hould do much to still the tendency to squabble that sometimes shown by exponents of one or another ighting service. We would draw particular attention o the following pronouncements, which, though almost fry one of them has been challenged by loose thinkers, ally permit of no serious dispute when set forth as le>" are in this classical document. First, Mr. acDonald says that "If peace should be broken ie Navy is, as always, the first line of defence for the lamtenance of our essential sea communications." "is reads almost like a platitudinous truism, but none ie less it has become desirable to make the statement P the authority of the Government behind it. It expanded by a later paragraph which explains that developments in the power and range of air forces fve increased the vulnerability of this country. . . . e growing power of air forces, however it may have terch °ther conditions of warfare, has still left our aval H ^ °n ^e vast ocean sPaces as open to attack as before. The necessities of naval defence Tm before, unaltered." ttihorif,Pfper devoted to flying, Flight can claim no \ can t i uSCUSS the dictum that " In the Main Fleet ich th P remains the essential element upon .7,e TwhoIe structure of our naval strategy d we th \ 'S' nowever> of interest to every taxpayer, r reade TU dtaw attention to it for the benefit of ie Air p rS' °ther Services- that is the Army and the def°prCe' Rre recluired to co-operate with the Navy fceuarHIn"C!r° p0!:ts and of the narrow seas, for the It is useful that this Siding of our food supplies. nction of th • supplies. It is usetul that this We Air Force should be authoritatively put on record. It is likewise satisfactory to read that "It is equally essential that our fleet should be kept up to date in all respects, including . . . adequate provision of aircraft (which are becoming more and more im portant to the Navy)." This has a direct application to the increases in the Fleet Air Arm. Turning from the general to the particular subject in which Flight is mainly interested, it is of great im portance to see it laid down that '' The Royal Air Force has, as its principal role, to provide (with the co-operation of ground defences) for the protection of the United Kingdom, and particularly London, against air attack." This principle has often been stated in Flight, and it has now received authoritative sanction. The Prime Minister follows up this saydng by remark ing on the technical development of military aircraft and the consequent increased importance "^vf the in tegrity of territories on the other side of the Channel and the North Sea. He repeats, by implication, Mr. Baldwin's saying that "our frontier is the Rhine." Not the last trenchant remark in the whole statement is another truism which is too often overlooked : '' In effective defence means not only waste but defeat." The Air Estimates E VERYONE needs to bear the words of the Prime Minister's statement in mind when considering the details of the Air Estimates. Most of the main details have now been published and dis cussed. The net estimate is for £20,650,000, which is an increase of £3,089,000 on last year's figures. The Air Force is the only one of the fighting services in which there is to be an outstanding increase in units and personnel during this year. The expansion pro gramme was announced last July, and it provides frrr the addition of a total of 41 \ squadrons by the end of 1938, which will bring the total first-line strength of the regular Air Force up to about 1,330 aircraft, to which may be added some 130 machines in non-regular squadrons. This adding up of totals is misleading, for
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