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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1446.PDF
/ AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS FIRST AERONAUTICAITWEEKEYIN THE^WORLD .• FOUNDED WOO Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines). HERTFORD ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2071. 260. DEANSGATE, 26B, RENPIELD ST., MANCHESTER, 3. GLASGOW C.2. Telegrams: 1 liffe. Manchester. Telegrams: Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Canada: Year, £1 13 0. Other Countries: Year, £1 15 0. 6 months, 16s. fid. 6 months, 17s. 6d. 3 months, f>s. Cd. 3 months, Ss. 9d. No. 1432. Vol. XXIX. JUNE 4, 1936. Thursdays, Price 6d, Air P. d Sea Routes oiver an AIR power is bringing about more than one modifi cation in our plans, for Empire strategy. Every -L one has now grown accustomed to the idea that Great Britain as an island is no longer safe from hostile attack. The need for air defence of Great Britain has made us set up an elaborate system of defence which is entirely the concern of the Royal Air Force. The Navy can contribute little to it, and the Army nothing, except by supplying ground troops and guns which really ought to belong to the Air Ministry. The campaign envisaged is utterly different from the air activities of the Great War, when aircraft were purely ancillary arms of the Army and Navy. The latest anxiety concerns the British position in the Mediterranean, and again the problems raised are novel. The ability of Britain to secure the passage of her ships from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Suez is of vital importance to her connections with India, Australia, and New Zealand. So far as defence against hostile attack goes, those Dominions may be adequately guarded by the Singapore base; but the passage of merchant ships through the Mediterranean is necessary for the welfare of the Empire. The recent dispute of Italy with the League of Nations has brought to the front questions as to Britain's ability to keep that artery open in all circumstances. It is not a ques tion of air bombs versus battleships, but of the new aspects of naval power which the addition of an air arm has introduced. The claims put forward in some quarters that aircraft have rendered fleets obsolete have not been proved, and, so far as unprejudiced eyes can see, are not likely to be proved ; but fleets equipped with aircraft have new powers as well as new risks. It is possible that in a fleet action the attacking powers of the aircraft may prove to be but slight, and that their chief function will be reconnaissance and spotting for the guns; but the possibilities of air attacks on fleets in harbour must not be forgotten. The Italian invasion of Abyssinia has taught us that little reliance can be placed in a pledge by the Italian Government on a "scrap of paper," and, therefore, we have to consider the possibility of Italian hostility in the Mediterranean. Malta is, from the air point of view, almost in Italy's pocket, and the harbour of Alexandria is not out of the range of Italy's Libyan possessions. Rhodes, too, is another Italian possession. That our fleet when at sea could more than hold its own against any Italian naval effort there is no doubt what ever, but the protection of harbours against air attack is a rather more anxious problem. The question cf making a strong British naval base at Cyprus seems to deserve careful consideration. A Problem for the Empire Of course, in the event of such a deplorable happen ing as an armed dispute with Italy, the British Navy would not merely wait to be hit. Sir Samuel Hoare made that point quite clear. Our homeland is not in the Mediterranean, but Italy is. Moreover, sup posing that Italy still had some connection with Abyssinia, a British air force at Aden could make it quite impossible for any Italian ship to use the harbour of Massawa. It would be foolish not to consider these unpleasant possibilities, even though we all hope that Signor Mussolini was quite sincere when he told the Daily Telegraph that he desired friendship with Britain. The Mediterranean problem, none the less, is suffi ciently complex as to cause anxiety to the Dominions. Mr. Pirow, the South African Defence Minister, is on his way to England to discuss it with the United Kingdom Government, and it would be a very good thing if an Imperial Conference were held to discuss the problem in all its aspects.
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