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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 2222.PDF
i54 FLIGHT. AUGUST 12, 1937. . the troubles which in 1918 made it necessary to abolish both the naval and the military air arms. If ever a suspicion should arise that the naval orders were not receiving fair play in the matter of precedence, that would be a case for Sir Thomas Inskip or his successor to prove that his office was no sinecure. Future Needs The most important aspect of the Cabinet's decision is that the dangerous practice of giving everything which flies to the.Air Ministry, everything which floats to the Admiralty, and everything which fights on the ground to the War Office, has now been breached. A preliminary breach had been made when the R.A.F. raised its own armoured car units, to the horror of General Spears. We are now working towards the sound principle of making air defence, naval defence, and ground defence each self-contained. The next step must be to give the anti-aircraft units to the R.A.F. Lord Swinton the other day called this suggestion "futile." So it would have been if anybody had suggested that such a change could be made at the present moment. That would indeed be swapping horses in the middle of the stream. But it will have to come some day, when the time is ripe for it, because it is a sound principle, and because we are now openly working towards sanity and rationalisation of defence. Paying the Piper THERE can be few ratepayers who are not "ako taxpayers, and so the dispute between the Home Office and the local authorities as to whether the Central Government should or should not pay the whole cost of air raid precautions would seem to be mainly a matter of accounting. If the municipalities gain their point and force or persuade the Government to shoulder all the initial cost of the equipment and some fifty per cent, of the maintenance, the only people whose pockets will suffer will be dwellers in rural districts, who are not likely to be bombed. The boon of freedom from such an unpleasant experience ought to be enough for them, and they ought to be willing to help their countrymen who live more dangerously. In fact, protection of the civil population from the acts of the King's enemies is a national concern, whether that protection be afforded by fighter aeroplanes or by de contamination squads. No one has suggested that municipal rates should pay for a balloon barrage round any particular city. Quite apart from questions of accounting, there is one very good reason why the Government should pay this particular piper. It will then be enabled to call the tune. Some municipal bodies need stimulation. ^ ^ ^ ^ Kit' i . i ! •1 & ~ . . 4i"!L< •• $*•?*# T"r ****** " * • ""SS^MS • / i % W THE R.A.F. AT ZURICH. Four Furies of No. 1 Fighter Squadron give their R.A.F. Display demonstration over Dubendorf aerodrome.
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