MINISTER IS CANDID

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 111, 11 May 1923, Page 7

MINISTER IS CANDID

FRANCE AND BRITAIN COMPARED.

*~ ft The House of Commons was given material for serious consideration recently, wh«n Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for Air, presented his Air Force Estimates for the coming year. He had much ground to traverse, says the "Daily Telegraph," but he kept to essentials thfloughoutil, and g&& the House a sufficiently startling picture of the air position of the country in a calm and deliberate maatigr. It was not possible for the Air Minister to put the position of the country, plainly before the House without making a comparison with France, the only other ijreat European Power that has developed its air service. In doing so he expressly dissociated himself from any idea of hostility to France. The comparison is inevitable, because it is the only one that can be made, but Sir Samuel looked with horror upon even the suggestion of a possibility of war between the !two Allies. It is an "unnatural" idea.

The following table shows the number of militorv aeroplanes possessed by the two countries at the end of the war I and to-day:— 1918. To-day. Great Britain ... 3300 371 France 3600 1260 It is not possible to make a comparison of the air personnel, as so many men are taken from the Army in France, but Britain's Air Force has been reduced aa follows:— 1918. To-day. Officers 30,122 3,071 Airmen 263,410 27,409 It will thus be seen that the peace air service of Great Britain is only onetenth of the war service. On the other hand, the French air service to-day is one-third of what it was in 1918. That, however, is not the whole story. France keeps three-fourths of her service machines in France, while two-thirds of the British air machines are overseas. At k#s moment we are left with only five service squadrons for home defence, one fightino- squadron and four bombing, France, on the other hand, has thirtytwo fighting and thirty-two bombing squadrons. There is yet more to tell. France is going; ahead with a large air programme, which will presumably be completed in 1925. By that time the position will be:— British machines 575 French Machines 2180 This, is after allowing for the modest addition of eighteen squadrons to our existing force, for which, the Air Ministry is seeking powers. It is of interest, also, to realise the aeroplane production potentialities of the two countries. Last year 200 oivil and military aeroj}lanes were built in Great Britain, while France produced 3300. In France there are 9250 men engaged in the aircraft industry., and in Great Britain 2500. While admitting the differences in the frontiers of France and Britain, Sir Samuel Hoare described the disparity in the air forces | of the two as "overwhelming." He pertinently aeked, "If one great European Power has so bi« an air force and another so small an air force, which is right?" It is a question that has to be answered.