While the greater portion of this book was already in the Press, and too
late for classification or detailed comment, the Government’s programme
in regard to Naval and Military Airmanship, for 1912-13, was duly
announced.
The appended summary of the official scheme is from the Memorandum,
concerning the Army Estimates, issued by the Secretary of State for
War:—
"Sufficient experience has now been gained in military aviation to
warrant advance on less tentative lines; and after careful consideration
by the Committee of Imperial Defence, it has been decided to establish
at once a joint Army and Navy School of Aviation at which officers of
both services shall be taught to fly, before proceeding to the separate
Army and Navy establishments at which they will be exercised in the more
specialised requirements of their respective services.
"A site for the school has been selected on Salisbury Plain, and the
purchase of the necessary land will be completed at the beginning of
April. Building, to plans which have been already prepared, will be
pressed forward rapidly, and it is hoped at a very early date to have
accommodation at the school for officers and men, instructors and
mechanics, as well as the necessary sheds for aeroplanes and workshops
for their repair and adjustment. Provision has also been made on an
extended scale for purchase of aeroplanes and other necessary equipment
for the school.
"Officers of both services will be employed on the staff of the school,
and its expenses (other than cost of land) will be shared between Army
and Navy votes.
"The Estimates further provide for continuing the experimental and other
work of the Army aircraft factory, for further buildings required for
airships, for an addition of personnel to Army establishments for
aeroplane work, and for a considerable number of aeroplanes as a first
instalment of the equipment of the Field Army.
"The total provision for the above services made in these estimates
compares with that made in 1911-12 as follows:—
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
— 1912-13 1911-12
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Establishment of Army personnel for £25,000 £20,000
aeronautical work ... ...
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Premiums to officers gaining pilot’s £3,000 —
certificates
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Staff of new school £5,000 —
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Aeroplanes, stores, and materials for £161,000 £85,000
factory and school
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Buildings, including Army share of school £38,000 £26,000
buildings
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Land for school £90,000 —
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Less Admiralty contribution to general £322,000 £131,000
expenses of school
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
— £14,000 —
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Increased provision £308,000 £131,000
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
— £177,000
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
For a full statement of the Government’s aerial programme, it is not
possible to do better than reproduce the speech (as printed in _The
Times_) which was made by Colonel Seely, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State for War.
Colonel Seely, explaining in the House of Commons the official scheme
for the forthcoming year, said:—
"He now came to what was called aviation, though he hoped that
that detestable word would vanish from the English language.
With regard to the defence of the country, the Prime Minister
had appointed a committee, of which Lord Haldane was the
chairman. That committee settled broad principles and entrusted
the making-out of the complete scheme to a technical committee,
of which he acted as chairman. This committee was at work during
the whole of last recess, and prepared a scheme which the full
committee had accepted in all parts except the details as to
pay. The scheme had that morning been approved by the Prime
Minister, and would now be carried into effect.
"There was to be one flying corps, embracing soldiers, sailors,
and civilians—all who could fly and would take the obligation to
serve this country in time of war in any part of the world. No
man would hold executive rank in the flying corps unless he was
himself an expert flyer. The present Air Battalion would cease
to exist, and part of it would be absorbed in the new
organisation. The corps would be one corps, and as far as
possible all the officers would be paid and treated alike. In a
purely land war the whole flying corps would be available for
land warfare, and in a purely naval war for naval warfare. The
headquarters would be near Nether-Avon on Salisbury Plain, where
a large tract had been purchased at a cost of about £90,000. In
the first instance accommodation would be provided for sixty
officers at the school at any one time. There would be three
terms of four months each, and it was proposed to pass through a
hundred and eighty officers in each year. If an officer wished
to join the flying corps he had first to get the consent of the
military authorities, then to be passed by the doctor, and
afterwards obtain his Royal Aero Club certificate at a private
aerodrome. It was not proposed to use the central school for
teaching officers to fly. They would learn the elements of the
art elsewhere and go to the flying school for the more advanced
course. After receiving the Royal Aero Club certificate, and
before presenting themselves, they would receive £75 which it
was believed would cover the cost. This arrangement had already
been in force some little time; he believed between twenty and
thirty officers had received the £75. Afterwards officers would
be attached to the central air school, and would go through a
course of four months. They would learn progressive flying,
mechanics and construction, meteorology, observation from the
air, flying by compass, photography from the air, signalling,
and types of warships of all nations. After this course the
officer of the air-corps, whatever his origin, would either join
the military wing or the naval wing, or go straight to the
reserve. The military wing would consist of seven aeroplane
squadrons, each containing twelve aeroplanes and a suitable
number of officers for flying. There would be an eighth
squadron, consisting of balloons and kites. The naval wing would
have headquarters at Eastchurch. The numbers had not yet been
finally settled, but they would be considerable, and would be
increased. In the reserve there would be two classes—the first
reserve consisting of airmen who performed so many flights
across country in each quarter and received a retaining fee, and
the second reserve consisting of those who did not enter into
this undertaking, but would be available in time of war. Both
the Army and Navy wings of the air-crops would always be on a
war footing, and the peace and war establishments would be the
same. The Army aircraft factory would cease to be called by that
name, and would become the aircraft factory for the whole flying
corps. Its functions would include experiment and building
experimental machines, making repairs to machines where that was
thought desirable, sometimes building machines, though that
would not be its primary duty, and training in expert knowledge
the numerous mechanics who would be required for this new
service.
"The scheme involved the purchase of a hundred and thirty-one
aeroplanes. He was not sure they could all be bought this year,
though the obstacle was not expense. The first seventy-one had
been sanctioned already. The orders for a great many of them had
gone out, and the others were in process of negotiation. Not so
many had been ordered from British manufacturers as could be
wished, but that was because the technical members of his
committee realised, and in this they had the full approval of
the whole committee, that the first essential was efficiency and
safety. In many respects France had gone a long way ahead of us
in both those matters. The Government could not buy British
machines at the price of human life, but no doubt this
difficulty would soon be overcome, for a great many of the best
brains were undoubtedly at work making the aeroplane not only
more speedy and efficient, but safer.
"The risks the officers would run would be very great. The
insurance rates were very high. But it was some consideration to
know that in France they had enormously increased the safety of
learning to fly. One school had covered 160,000 kilometres
without accident. It was to be hoped the risks would be reduced,
but they would still be very great, and he trusted the House
would not grudge the expense involved in making adequate payment
to officers, and giving an adequate scale of pensions in the
event of their being seriously injured. (Cheers.) The military
wing required at once to fly these aeroplanes a hundred and
thirty-three officers, the Navy a number not yet fixed, but
thirty or forty at once, and the reserve a number which would
depend on the progress of our science in the near future. They
had not got the hundred and thirty-three military officers. No
doubt many officers would volunteer. It could only be hoped that
they would learn to fly with as little accident as possible. It
had been settled that the officers should learn to fly at
private flying schools, first, because it was desirable to
encourage private effort; and, secondly, because they thought
there was less risk of accident in the initial stages if this
method was adopted. It was a method which had been largely
followed in France, and it had obvious advantages. It was
greatly to the interest of the owner of an aerodrome to avoid
accident. When officers had learned the elementary art of flying
they would go to the central flying school."
This official announcement of policy, as revealed above, unfortunately
comes too late for more than the briefest criticism in these pages.
All that can be said, indeed, is that the scheme prepared, while
certainly representing a stride forward in comparison with the previous
apathy of our authorities, is still inadequate when contrasted with the
activities of either France or Germany.
In France close upon £100,000 has been subscribed, by an enthusiastic
public, to augment the million which the Government will expend; Germany
has increased an original vote to the tune of £100,000.
Our scheme can only be regarded as a beginning—and, in several respects,
a disappointing one, seeing that, at the end of the present flying
season, both France and Germany will, inevitably, have still further
increased their already long lead.
Agitation for a more ambitious aerial programme in England must not,
indeed, cease; this 1912-13 scheme is not sound enough to relieve public
uneasiness. We are lamentably behind; and adequate steps have not, even
now, been taken to bring us on anything like a level with foreign
rivals, despite the fact that the aeroplane has been proved to be an
absolutely revolutionary weapon of modern war.
_NOTE_
_Amplifying the official statement of policy previously quoted, the
authorities issued, on 12th April, 1912, a fuller explanation of their
aerial programme. But it throws no very clear light upon the immediate
future; and, although it deals with plans which are ambitious, it is
disquietingly vague concerning the all-important question of finance._
_The official design is, it is stated, to form seven aeroplane
squadrons, each comprising twelve aeroplanes; and, to man this
air-fleet, a force of 364 pilots and observers will be required. In
addition, there will be forty airmen who will be trained, specifically,
in the duties of naval airmanship._
_But the facilities actually provided—as apart from paper schemes—are
still so meagre that it will only be possible, during this year, to
train a very small proportion of the corps set forth above. Thus it is
to be feared that, at the end of 1912, our position will continue to
compare, most unfavourably, with that of either France or Germany._
_We are more than a year behind, and seem likely to remain so._