FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1012.PDF
356 FLIGHT. APRIL 14, 1938. THE OUTLOOK (CONTINUED) DecentralisationC ONCERNING the immediate future, our contributor points out that the present Air Ministry organisation is too unwieldy, the staffs in the various technical departments much too large. He suggests that the firms should be given a much freer hand and that there should be a system of decentralisation such as that which already exists in, for instance, the A.I.D., where district inspectors are in charge and report to headquarters. Another direction in which our contributor sees eye to eye with Flight is in connection with a revival of wooden or mixed construction for certain types of aircraft in which ultra-efficiency is of less importance than quantity produc- tion. We have expressed that view on more than one occasion. R.C.A.F. ;;'--™-^ ••.""•••"• -;:.':V ;,,--:-I T is not only in Europe that questions of defence have been occupying the attention of Governments and legis- latures. The British Dominions are also putting their defences in order. Quite recently the Canadian House of Commons was debating defence estimates which totalled /6,8oo,ooo. The Minister of Defence, Mr. Mackenzie, pointed out that by the end of the current fiscal year the Royal Canadian Air Force would have in being ten permanent and twelve non-permanent squadrons, with i total of 224 aeroplanes. This marks a considerable increase, for at the end of last year the R.C.A.F. consisted of eight permanent squadrons and nine non-permanent ones. The permanent Force consisted of one fighter squadron, one army co- operation squadron, one bomber squadron, one flying-boat squadron, one coastal reconnaissance squadron and two general-purpose squadrons. The non-permanent Force consisted of three fighter squadrons, three bomber squadrons, two army co-operation squadrons, and one coastal artillery co-operation squadron. Realising that completely harmonious work between the R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. is only possible if both Forces use aircraft of the same patterns, the Canadian Government has placed orders with Canadian firms for a number of modern aeroplanes of R.A.F. design. This is a step which may conceivably have important results. Not long ago it was advocated by a speaker in the House of Commons (Westminster, not Ottawa) that the main part of the British aircraft industry ought to be located in Canada, as factories in Britain might be bombed by enemy aircraft. The idea has attractive features. There would, however, be grave objections to transporting large numbers of air- craft across the Atlantic in time of war. R.A.A.F,A USTRALIA is nearer to one of the disturbed centres of the world than is Canada, and consequently • Australian preparations for defence must be more realistic than .those of Canada. Australia is intensely in- terested in Singapore, and the Commonwealth is convert- ing Darwin into a naval base fit to work in conjunction with Singapore. The Royal Australian Air Force is being brought up to a strength which will make it a really for- midable partner to the Far East Command of the R.A.F. Already the personnel of the R.A.A.F. is equal in numbers to the India Command of the R.A.F., and the former is to be increased by 2,780 men, an increase which will make it the most important overseas air power in the Empire. No fewer than nine squadrons are to be added to the muster roll of the R.A.A.F. Up to the end of last year the R.A.A.F. consisted of eight squadrons, in addition to other necessary units, such as training schools. These squadrons were: one bomber, two general reconnaissance, three general purpose, one army co-operation and one fleet co-operation. The three general-purpose squadrons are organised on a cadre basis, much like the Special Reserve squadrons which the R.A.F. maintained until they were recently converted into Auxil- iary Air Force units. That is to say, the commanding officer, the headquarters and one flight are regulars, while the remainder of the officers and men come from the Citizen Air Force. No squadron was definitely termed a fighter squadron, but the general-purpose squadrons, which for some years past have used Demon aircraft, were ex- pected to undertake air combat when necessary. If war were to break out it is probable that the R.A.A.F. would have to go in for more specialisation of squadron work, as the R.A.F. had to do during the course of the Great War Acceleration -.:., ,. . •_•__._.-^^...W TTH the all-mail-by-air scheme and, in any case, the introduction of the Short beats on the Empire routes, other equally important features of the Imperial Airways' plan have rather been put in the back- ground. Not only were the number of services to Africa, India and Australia to be increased, but the services were to be greatly accelerated. Last Sunday, Cenlaitrus, already famous for her New Zealand survey flight, left on the first of the accelerated services to Singapore and Australia, in which Karachi is reached in i\, Calcutta in 3J and Brisbane in 9 days. The first of the faster services in the reverse direction left Brisbane on April 5. That from Durban left on April 10 and the outgoing African boat left yesterday. For the moment, wisely enough, the speeding-up is be- ing done without the introduction of night flying, except that necessary on occasion to maintain schedule. The majority of the crews have still to become entirely ex- perienced in flying-beat work and the ground equipment is, in any case, not yet complete. The present schedule merely shows what can be done with the present fleet and present ground organisation. With even larger and more commodious boats, with crews experienced over a number of years, and with thoroughly efficient ground organisa- tion it will be both possible and reasonable for the passengers to be flown by night and by day. The Bombing cf BarcelonaT HE accounts of the carnage wrought by the bombs dropped on Barcelona last month make absolutely sickening reading. They recall the awful occa- sions in the wars of the Middle Ages when conquering armies were sometimes deliberately let loose in captured cities to plunder and ravish at will, in the vain hope that such punishment would dissuade other cities from resist- ing. The frightfulness never had that effect on any virile people, but rather made the resistance of the others all the stiffer. One wonders whether the generals of modern Spain and the airmen whom they employ would be ready to lead their soldiery on to the slaughter with rifle and bayonet of the civilians in the towns which oppose them. One can hardly think so; and at the same time one must admit that the worst horrors of air bombardment cannot equal the atrocities which have at times been committed by drunken and undisciplined troops. Still, the tales which come from Barcelona are gruesome enough, and they almost dispel the belief that the world had advanced in humanity and in Christian practice since the Renaissance. The chief marvel is that people are to be found, even among our British selves, who will argue that war is now a war of populations, and that therefore the bombing of civilians is a legitimate operation of war. If such people could produce any evidence that the fright- fulness has produced, or is likely to produce, a demand for surrender by the tortured populace one might have to listen to such arguments. But all the evidence is on .the;: other side. DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS—PAGE
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
