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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0415.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director Editor Assistant Editor - Art Editor - G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. C. M POULSEN MAURICE A. SMITH, O.F.C. (W/NG CDR., R.A.F.V.R.) JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I l Ftih diTelegrams : Ftightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines.) COVENTRY: 8-10, CORPORATION BIRMINGHAM, 2 : CT KING EDWARD HOUSE -. "NEW STREET Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Te/egrams : Autopress. Birmingham! S2I0. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines).Telephone : Coventry MANCHESTER, 3 : 260, DEANSGATE. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow Telephone : Central 4857 SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year. £3 I 0. 6 months. £1 10 6. No. 2049 Vol. Llll April 1st, 1948 Thursdays, One Shilling Outlook Closing the Stable DoorD ISSATISFACTION with the meagre amount of information which the Government is willing to give was the feeling that ran through the recent House of Lords debate on defence. Accompanying it was uneasiness about the possibility that the vast sums provided in the Estimates will not be spent to the best possible advantage. As Viscount Bridgeman said, the Estimates are large enough at £962 million, but it is perfectly possible to spend a lot of money and just fail to achieve anything. When the Air Estimates were published in February, we commented that a sum much larger than the £173 million net would have been prefer- able if one could have the feeling that we are making rapid headway with the reorganization of the R.A.F. On the question of security, we agree with Viscount Eifcdgeman that this can be overdone, and that "the log in this country is much blacker among the people who are entitled to know than it is in the intelligence services of foreign Powers." He went on to elaborate the point by pleading that we should let the people in the Services know where they are, even if this means taking a little chance on security. Unless we do, the Services will not know what to prepare for, and the public will not be convinced that it is necessary to make sacrifices. The late but not lamented Hermann Goering coined the phrase about guns or butter. We do not want the British people to get the idea that they will have neither. Yet that is the impression which all this secrecy tends to create. Lord Nathan, for the Government, did little towards relieving the feeling of uneasiness, beyond recalling that the Prime Minister '' in another place'' had promised to consider whether, following on publication of infor- mation about the Navy, further information could be given. "In the case of the other two Services," Lord Nathan said, " it has been considered contrary to public interest to make a unilateral disclosure about formation strengths and dispositions." It is to be presumed that the expression unilateral in this connection referred to Russia. Even during the war, when Russia was our ally, any disclosure was entirely unilateral, and we knew little then of her fighting forces and their equipment. There is no reason to believe that the position has changed since the erection of the "iron curtain," but equally there is no reason to assume that Russia is not already very well informed about any defence measures which we may be taking. Certain things must obviously remain closely guarded secrets, but it is rather ridiculous to hide from our own people what a potential enemy could find out with very little trouble anyway. MobilityI N his Memorandum to the Air Estimates, the Secretary of State for Air explained that the aim of the Government is a mobile striking force so organ- ized as "to enable a substantial weight of air power to be developed at short notice in any area where it may be required." Such a striking force must include many things besides bombers, an arm in which we are not very well placed for the interim period until new jet- propelled machines come along. If a striking force is to be mobile, it must have fast transport aircraft. It is good to know that in the Hand- iey Page Hastings the Royal Air Force will have a long- range transport capable of carrying great loads fast over long distances, and that, as this machine is already in production, it should fill one gap in the re-equipment of the R.A.F. The recent flight of a Hastings from Bassingbourn to Sydney in 46^ hours' flying time is proof that mobility can be achieved. This particular machine is on a prov- ing flight to determine its behaviour in climates hotter than our own, and the fact that it took the England- Australia record away from a Constellation was purely accidental. Stops were made en route at several places, and the actual elapsed time was a week. But had there been any urgency, the Hastings could have taken a very
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