BRITAIN’S AIR FORCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 313, 2 December 1933, Page 6

BRITAIN’S AIR FORCE.

At the close of the Great War Britain was the first air Power in the world. As an object lesson in disarmament to the other nations, and partly for reasons of economy she so drastically reduced the number of machines that to-day she stands fifth among the leading Powers. The first was the principal, and until the effects of the bad times were felt, the only reason actuating British policy. The horrors of warfare from the air have been vividly painted. Mr Stanley Baldwin has spoken with breadth of vision and depth of feeling on this aspect of the next war if the passions of nations are not to be checked. Undefended toAvns bombed; poison gases spread across a peaceful countryside far from the actual scene of combat; innocent victims slain in their thousands —there can be no protection from these ghastly horrors unless the nations abolish aircraft for other than purely commercial purposes. But Britain’s example lias not been folloAved by the other Powers. It reflects the deep rooted desire and honesty of purpose of a nation that above all realises Avliat aerial warfare must mean to humanity. Deliberately she reduced herself to a state of inferiority; but all to no purpose. Noav from the aspect of national defence that policy has to be altered, and the statement of the Minister of Air (Lord Londonderry) must-be welcomed throughout the Empire. According to the figures he gaA r e in announcing in the House of Lords the end of a policy of unilateral disarmament, France has an air armada of 1650 machines, Soviet Russia betAveen 1400 and 1500, the United States and Italy betAveen 1000 and 1100, and Britain 850. Recently, liotyever, the London Daily Mail in inaug-urating a campaign for a bigger Air Force gave figures showing France to be possessed of 3000 fighting machines, the United States 2826, Japan 1939, Italy 1507, and Britain 1434. This does not take Russian air armaments into consideration, so that Britain-may even be sixth among - the PoAvers. In the matter of civil aeroplanes, excluding Soviet Russia, Britain stands fourth, according to the same journal, Germany, France and the United States having a superior number. As Lord Londonderry says, if parity cannot be secured by reductions elsetvliere, then the converse of the proposition must follow, and there is no option but to build upwards, while continuing the efforts to secure an international agreement in fixing parity at the lowest level to which the other nations will subscribe. In removing - the present serious disability of inferiority the Government is acting m a manner which commonsense dictates and which the national interests demand, for as the Duke of Sutherland said, “Destroy London, and you destroy England, for you destroy the heart and brain of the country.”