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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0697.PDF
340 FLIGHT Air Estimates Approved THE COST OF THE R.A.F. —AND WHY SOME interesting news of R.A.F. developments was given bythe Air Minister, MR. GEORGE WARD, when he opened thedebate on the Air Estimates in the House of Commons on March 5. He referred to progress with the stand-off bomb, to theradar reconnaissance capability of the Victors, to the equipment of Fighter Command with Firestreak and the introduction ofJavelin FAW.8s with re-heat. There was a very thin House to hear Mr. Ward, but among his listeners in the gallery (wherespectators far outnumbered M.P.s) were three members of the Air Council—the C.A.S. (Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir DermotBoyle), D.C.A.S. (Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Tuttle) and Air Member for Personnel (Air Marshal Sir John Whitley). Mr. Ward said that the net total of the Estimates—about £491m—was some £20m higher than what was being spent in the current year. The largest increase was in the vote for aircraft andstores, and deliveries of guided weapons were a big factor in the increased expenditure. During the year, the power of Bomber Command had beengreatly increased by the delivery of many new Victors and Vulcans. Test launchings of a full-scale version of the stand-offbomb were to begin this year. The Command's state of readiness was steadily improving. There was a small force of reconnaissanceValiants, which is to be re-equipped with Mk 2 Victors. These would be able to cover an area as large as the Mediterranean in asingle radar reconnaissance sortie by one aircraft; while a map the size of the United States could be made in one sortie by fouraircraft. Flight-refuelling equipment had been developed for the Valiant. Turning to missiles, the Minister said that the first Thorsquadron had been formed. Javelin squadrons were being equipped with Firestreak this year and S.A.G.W. now formedpart of our air defence system. One of the biggest tasks was to fit guided weapons into the system as a whole; but results of thelarge-scale trial in the air defence exercise last autumn ["Sun- beam"] were most encouraging. Transport Command resources had been built up in recentyears and were being augmented by Britannias and the Britannic 3 and AW.660. In the Far East, 32,000 troops had been airlifted,and 12,000 transport sorties flown in the Arabian Peninsula. In both theatres, the Bristol 192 was to be introduced. Referring to the TSR.2, the Minister said that its combinationof characteristics would be unsurpassed by any aircraft known and in the design stage today. Last year's R.A.F. flying accidentrate was the lowest ever recorded. In A.T.C., the Air Ministry was discussing with the M.T.C.A. the possibility of joint controlin certain areas. In search and rescue, the R.A.F. had flown nearly 1,800 hr in over 150 A.S.R. incidents and its mountain rescueteams had been called out 29 times. Aircrew was the R.A.F.'s main recruiting worry, and improve-ment was needed for the W.R.A.F.—a new "local service" scheme was being introduced. Good progress was being made in thebuilding programme for S.A.G.W. stations and airfields were being improved for the dispersal of the V-bomber force and to take theLightning. MR. G. DE FREITAS (Lab., Lincoln) congratulated the Ministeron having presented seven Air Estimates—though naturally hoping that this would be his last. Much of the equipment men-tioned was not here but on order; he was critical of the long delay in ordering transport aircraft. Had it been decided to continuethe Beverley? Why could not the Government have ordered the Argosy earlier? What progress had there been in integration ofthe Services since the White Paper of last July? Mr. de Freitas considered the Air Force was becoming increasingly top-heavy,with 240 officers of air rank to 180,000 men, compared with 240 to The power of Bomber Command is to be increased even more by later versions of Vulcans and Victors (a Victor B.2 is illustrated below) "Flight" photograph Javelin squadrons in Fighter Command "will be equipped with Fire- streak . . . and the performance of the Javelin itself will be improved" 272,000 in 1957. Could it be that "A. Cdre. Parkinson" hadtaken over command? On Thor, the Government now said that they were deployed for training purposes, whereas the Americansbelieve them to be deployed operationally. Blue Streak was admirable as a space research device but its military applicationwas doubtful. On manpower, Mr. de Freitas expressed surprise that there was no technical officer on the Air Council and that theC-in-C. Technical Training Command was not a technical officer. He referred to the "dropping" of the "Benson experiment" andsaid the Air Council should study what was being done in other air forces to let airmen live in a more civilian way. He suggestedR.A.F. transport fleets should be used as a means of showing off our commercial aircraft abroad, and that when the TSR.2 camealong the Air Council should show it off. Had the R.A.F. anything to compare with the Royal Military College of Science at Shriven-ham, and was diere a danger in the way in which science and technology were being taught in the Services? MR. P. B. LUCAS (Con., Brentford and Chiswick) referred to"local operations" and said that while the French in North Africa had 500-600 helicopters we had only a tenth of that number. Hequeried whether the maintenance of the C.F.E. and the com- parable Bomber Command establishment and the R.A.F. FlyingCollege could be justified when we were looking for economics. MR. JOHN RANKIN (Lab., Glasgow, Govan) said he was disturbedto find the Air Ministry and M.T.C.A. still arguing about the control of aircraft in flight. SIR ARTHUR HARVEY (Con., Maccles-field) asked when the S.A.G.W. was likely to come into operation and how accurate it was likely to be. Could not the S.A.G.W.radar system be saturated? Were the Government considering the possibility of a follow-on fighter for the Lightning? MR. FRANK BESWICK (Lab., Uxbridge) said he considered the firstpriority in this country was for transport aircraft; he put the provision of a nuclear deterrent right at the bottom of the list ofpriorities. MR. F. A. BURDEN (Con., Gillingham) hoped thatinstead of continuing with an "outmoded" Ministry of Supply the Government might consider setting up a Ministry of Researchand Technology. MR. ROY MASON (Lab., Barnsley) said he wasnot yet satisfied that the TSR.2 was necessary; we could have developed the NA.39. SIR PETER MACDONALD (Con., Isle ofWight) said that if young men were to be encouraged to join the Service there must be some prospect of promotion in due course. MR. R. T. PAGET (Lab., Northampton) said he believed our V-bomber force to be more effective than any fixed-base rockets. MR. GRESHAM COOKE (Con., Twickenham) said the force had itslimitations and must be supplemented by ballistic missiles. MR. FRANCIS NOEL-BAKER (Lab., Swindon) referred to Cyprus andsaid it was fantastic to think that the airfields there would be of any value in a global war. G/C. C. A. B. WILCOCK (Lab., Derby,North) said he considered R.A.F. and civil flying should be under one control. MR. WILLIAM ROSS (Lab., Kilmarnock) said therehad been a decrease in R.A.F. manpower of 23,000 and an increase in cost of £23m; he didn't know whether we could afford thiseconomy much longer. He thought the Secretary of State had been somewhat too optimistic about Transport Command. In his summing-up the Under-Secretary of State for Air, MR. AIREY NEAVE, said the great value of the debate had been not onlythe general goodwill shown towards the R.A.F. but also the con- structive fashion in which members had considered differentaspects of it. A great improvement was needed in the rate of recruiting for the G.D. branch. W.R.A.F. changes were beingmade to improve recruitment. The R.A.F. had been said to be top-heavy, but air rank officers filled many posts outside the R.A.F,Many proposals for economies were being considered. The equivalent of the Army's Shrivenham was the R.A.F. TechnicalCollege. It had been suggested that the Government was chang- ing its mind about Thor; he did not think there was any contradiction between the two statements. There was no question of replacing the Beverley "for several years yet."
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