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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0441.PDF
MARCH 27TH, 1947 FLIGHT Air Estimates Debated Future Weapons : Transport Command : Real Interest in Reserves and W.A.A.F. THE present position, as afiectingthe establishment and efficiencyof the R.A.F., was clearly stated by Mr. Philip Noel-Baker, Secretary ofState for Air, when he introduced the Air Estimates in the Commons on March17th. His overall summing-up mitigated such technical ambiguities as his refer-ence to "guided rockets, against which jrcraft may be the sole protection." More important than supersonic air-craft and homing air-to-air missiles was the revolutionary change in warfarecaused by atomic energy, which was less costly in proportion to its destructivepower than any other weapon. There might be other means of warfare bothmore effective and even cheaper. It was no good in this transition year,the Minister considered, trying to guess about the changes which might come,and we must seek now to learn the true lessons of the last struggle. He was notsure that it was fully realized what a dominant factor air warfare had becomeand he recalled how, in the spring of 1945, the Allied air offensive had com-pletely disrupted German economy, so that Speer was obliged to report to Hitlerthat the final collapse of German economy could be counted on within fourto eight weeks and that after this, mili- tary continuation of the war would be-come impossible. Wcrk of Transpc x*t Command The Air Minister had a very specialword to say about Transport Command. It would be hard to overestimate whatthe Command had done in the last twelve months. To-day it was running two pas-senger services a week to Warsaw, two to Belgrade and Budapest, three freightservices to Vienna, three passenger ser- vices to Bucharest, and one to Sofia. Itran five services a week in both direc- tions to Singapore, two to Cairo, andseven freight services to Delhi. In addi- tion to flying training it was providingairfield lighting systems, lighthouses, beacons and G.C.A., in the operation ofwhich it was training civil crews. Thus a heavy burden had been imposed on theR.A.F. In the development of new navigation and landing equipmentpriority was given to that which would help civil as well as military flying.Without the R.A.F. Air Traffic Control Organization no aircraft could fly on theEmpire trunk routes. Discussion was taking place with the Minister of CivilAviation to discover how a major relief for the Air Force might soon be broughtabout. Mr. Noel-Baker went on to describethe splendid survey and police work lately undertaken by the R.A.F. andrightly followed it with a statement on demobilization. By the end of thismonth, he pointed out, nine out of ten of the skilled and experienced personnelwho made the Air Force and fought the war would be released. The Force wasso unbalanced, and the shortage of top- grade mechanics so great, that it wasdifficult to give squadrons the required flying time. A large part of the Force was necessarily engaged upon training.After outlining the plans for improve- ment in living conditions Mr. Noel-Bakersaid it would be less than fair to the Ser- vice to claim that we could offer themall that we would wish to offer them to-day. Next to conditions of life andservice he believed that education was of most importance at present. In future the avenues of promotion forairmen would be far wider. Many more officers would be selected fromthe ranks;all short-service officers in the General Duties branch would be taken from air-crew, and a substantial proportion of per- manent commissions would be offered toofficers on the short" service list. Business Technique It might be asked whether modernbusiness and industrial technique should not now be applied to transportation andadministration, to bring about great economies of manpower. He thought thispossible, but added the warning that the R.A.F. was not an industry or abusiness but a defence machine. It must work not only in large home stations butin small stations overseas. Having discussed servicing and mainten-ance and the scientific use of manpower, the Minister turned to equipment, inwhich matter we had to keep a balance between rigid conservatism and vaguecrystal gazing. We were confining our provision of new types to the minimumessentials—fighter defence, maritime re- connaissance and strike, transport, andtraining. In the coming year the Meteor III would be replaced in fighter squadronsby the Meteor IV. These new high- ' speed machines made it necessary to havenew training aircraft and to reorganize training methods. That, he claimed, hadbeen done, but he made no mention of specific types of training aircraft. Despite the fact that in their thousandsof predictions in the last eight weeks the " luckless men " of the MeteorologicalOffice had been invariably right, meteoro- logy still left much to be desired. Auxiliary Squadrons A. Cdre. Harvey hoped that theMinister would always insist on quality instead of quantity. The £215,000,000we were now spending was cheap in- surance. Forty instead of twentyauxiliary squadrons should be formed. There was only one A.A.F. squadronsouth of London and he was quite sure that there was room for three. He askedfor encouragement for the A.T.C. and pointed out that the Air Force was thefirst Service to have a youth organiza- tion, and that it paid tremendous divi-dends. A. Cdre. Harvey wished to know whatwas being done about types of aircraft other than fighters, and whethersquadrons were getting sufficient flying time He felt that the Dominions shouldpay more than they did for the benefit they were getting from our fighting ser-vices, and advocated the formation of auxiliary squadrons in such places as Hong Kong, Ceylon and Singapore. GjC. Wilcock said that meteoro-logical facilities in Africa were appalling and wondered if the scientific side ofmeteorology should not be left to the universities. We did not seem to have produced areally successful type of large passenger aircraft, and the R.A.F. required a goodtype for transport work. There was no black magic in operatingover the sea, and G/C. Wilcock hoped that the Minister of Defence might oneof these days consider whether the R.A.F. should not take over the dutiesof the Fleet Air Arm. This would cer- tainly lead to economy and possibly togreater efficiency. Sir Peter MacDonald questionedwhether the staffs of the Ministry of Supply were the most capable people forcarrying out research and development for the R.A.F., and held that the cus-tomer was the best judge of what he required. We should find that the bestdesigners and technicians would not be civil servants for long because the air-craft manufacturing firms would snatch them up. He thought the Air Ministrystaff could be cut by at least 50 per cent. W/C. Shackleton hoped that wewould strive to bring the Air Force and the Navy into closer relationship at thelower level. Would it not be possible, he said, for naval officers to be stationedon Coastal Command stations? '' Maritime '' Command The use of the word " maritime " in-stead of " Coastal Command " pleased W/C. Shackleton. He hoped the R.A.F.would have a large hand in the re- sponsibility for the development ofguided missiles and similar weapons. Mr. Gerald Williams said that we musthave aircraft to drop the atom bomb wherever it was wanted. (W/C. Milling-ton said that it was not usually wanted— at any rate by the recipient.) Mr. Williams went on to explain thatflying bombs and rockets needed to have big installations and bases, thereby dis- .playing a deplorable lack of knowledge of German technique. W/C'. Millington spoke of the dangerin which the R.A.F. might become in- volved by committing itself, throughpromises, to young recruits, opening up vistas of a certain kind of career whichmight be closed to them in the very near future. He could not see why wecould not have an almost complete in- tegration between Transport Commandand the civil aviation services. Mrs. Nichol gave an account of therecord of the W.A.A.F. and referred to the extended service scheme. Women,she maintained, felt that they should have equal pay for equal work, and agreat number of them would like to fly as non-combatant pilots. A. Cdre. Harvey suggested that theAir Ministry should review the matter of ferrying aircraft. It might be neces-sary to organize a service known as the Continued on page 273.)
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