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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1968.PDF
26 JULY II, 1940 AIR STRATEGY A Two-power Standard No Longer Sufficient : Advice to the United States By CAPTAIN NORMAN MACMILLAN, M.C., A.F.C. FROM the aspect of the air strategist, the most im-portant result of the capitulation of France is thatthe United Kingdom is now bereft of operational aerodromes situated on the mainland of the continent of Europe. All air operations against Germany must be launched from aerodromes in the United Kingdom or from the decks of aircraft carriers at sea. And by the word " Germany "one must visualise all that terri- tory which is now under the military control of the Ger- man armed forces. This territory extends from North Cape in 71 degrees north latitude in Norwa ^ to the border between France and Spain in 43 degrees north latitude—a total distance in a straight line of just under 2,000 miles, and a far greater distance along the broken coastline which demarcates the western seaboard of the mainland of Europe. To some extent the relative positions of Great Britain and Germany have been reversed. Germany, whose lines of communication were in radial straight lines, has now amassed a vast network of lateral lines of com- munication, man ? of which ought to be vulnerable to air attack. Britain, on the other hand, has been forced to with- draw her expeditionary force on the Continent, and now has her Metropolitan forces concentrated in the United Kingdom. The British lines of air attack against Germany and Italy are radial lines spreading out fanwise from a concentrated area which has, as a safe source of suppfy, the great hinterland of the American continent, separated by the still comfortable distance of the Atlantic Ocean. The Roles of the Services It would appear that the general policy advocated for the immediate defence of the United Kingdom is one -of " grin and bear it" for the interim period dur- ing which the strategical concept of Britain at war can be modified by the acquisition of the necessary war material of the requisite kind. In the meantime it is taken as an omen of good cheer that we were able to evacuate the British troops from Belgium and France. These troops, experienced in the methods of modern war, are a stalwart body upon which to rely for the action that may have to be taken to repel an attempt at an armed landing in this country, whether b / sea or by air, or both. But they must be fully and ade- quately equipped. The new conception of Britain at war is roughly this: The Navy will keep our waterways of supply open in collaboration with the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm. The Navy, the Air Force and the Army will combine in such action as may be required for the security of the Realm. The Air Force will be the arm of the Services upon which will fall the brunt of the immediate offensive operations against enemy territory and the forces thereon. Upon the Air Force will fall the work of harassing the enemy so that his supply arrangements will be interfered with to the maximum extent. In other words, with no fanfare of trumpets, and no clear statement of the position from anyone, either in or out of the Services, the Royal Air Force has quietly slipped into that position of predominance for which its best friends have worked for years. I could mention numerous names. They were un- popular, even in the Air Ministry, a few years ago. They were too openly clamant in their demands that the Air Force should come first. They frightened even the big people in the Royal Air Force and the Air Ministry. They called down upon their heads time and time again the age-worn cliche about the inter- dependability of the three Services—a matter which they had never denied. They were looked upon as fanatics. They were shunned because they were a nuisance. If they criticised the Air Ministry and the Air Force it was because they wished these two well. They were truer friends than those who said that in no cir- cumstances were they prepared to criticise the Air Ministry. Such sycophancy was definitely harmful, but it was lapped up in high places because it went down like treacle. Attack Qermany ...-v Now, under the most fearful stress, in the time -of Britain's greatest crisis, the Royal Air Force has, per- force, had thrust upon it the role for which the heretics worked. Had they been heeded in the days of plenty the Ro /al Air Force would be a stronger force to bear the task which is now laid upon it. The heretics who demanded a Two-Power Standard for the Royal Air Force were right. It is the minimum standard that we need to-day. Indeed, before this war is finished to the glory of the Old Country and her sons overseas, we shall need far more than a Two-Power standard in the air. For it is to the air that we must look for victor '—and by that I mean no disparagement of the other Services. No doubt the sea blockade will play a part, and a noteworthy part, in the long-term operations. But of itself it will not command final victory. And not until the British air force is built up to a strength greater than that of Germany and Italy combined (aye, and perhaps that of Japan, too) can we count on being able to initiate those major operations in the theatres of war which will bring about the end we seek. In the meantime we in these islands must be pre- pared to take it in the rough way that Robert Service outlined: "If you're up against a bruiser and you're getting knocked about, Grin." While the Royal Air Force has now to deal with long enemy lines of communication and with the great dis- persion of enemy forces (with bodies concentrated at points which might be key points whence attacks upon Great Britain might be launched) it must also deal with the main centres which supply the enemy's accoutre- ments of war. That means Germany, and to a lesser extent Italy. Industrial Germany must be attacked consistently and without interruption, no matter how pressing are the other targets which demand the atten- tion of our bombers. During recent weeks Germany has received a considerable degree of attention from the bombers of the R.A.F. That pressure must be kept up and increased. There may be need for some
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