EMPIRE DEFENCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 27 October 1928, Page 9

EMPIRE DEFENCE

VALUE OF THE AEROPLANE CHEAP HR ANI) MORE MOBILE AIK MINISTER’S STATEMENT (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, 25th October. Sir Samuel iluare, Secretary for Air, delivered this evening an address on aviation in the British Empire before the Royal Geographical Society of Scotkind. Dealing with tho problems which the invention of aviation had created for the British Empire, be said that we went into l,lie war with, wealth and power completely immune from invasion. Wo came out of it victorious, indeed, but with our capital more open by reason of this new invention to foreign' attack than any of the great capitals of Western Europe. Year by year we must give our minds and money to building up an air force strong enough to defer any would-be enemy from attacking. He was glad to think that, while five years ago there were practically no Air Force - squadrons available in this country for home defence, .I !ic"e were now thirty, squadrons out of the liff.ytwo. tll.lt were being formed

SAVING IN COST Aviation bad, however, imposed upon the British taxpayers a new item in expenditure upon armaments at the very time when we wished to reduce over the whole world the burden of armaments. How could we find some advantage from flying to set off against this liability? Five years of experience in the Air Ministry had impressed upon him with continuous force that the only way in which that liability could be counterbalanced was by making the fullest possible use of the unique power of the mobility of the aeroplane for effecting economies in Imperial defence and developing the communications and resources of a scattered Empire. There were certain fields of Imperial defence where the*Air Force wing could bo economically used as a substitute for the older military forces rather than as a supplemented them. A conspicuous instance of this policy was the case of Irak, where we had- been able to reduce the garrison, which in 1921. comprised thirty-three Imperial battalions, costing over £20,000,000 yearly,-to five squadrons of the Royal Air Force, without a single Imperial battalion in support, costing less than £2,000,000. . .. ■ A single squadron, oh the Air Force had forced the Iman of Yemen, , who had for years encroached upon the Aden Protectorate, to leave it and 'release sheikhs friendly to the British whom he had kidiiapped. In Somaliland aeroplanes had in a few weeks removed the constant danger of mullahs’ risings and on the north-west, frontier of India, with practically no casualties on either side, peace had been imposed upon the unruly tribes by British airmen. He foresaw the time when air power, like sea power, would be concentrated upon two or three strategic points of the Empire, and when units, instead of being uneconotnieally tied down Jo local defence, would be freely moved from one threat-' ed point to another. Such a policy presupposed the closest possible liaison between the Air Forces of the. Empire.

PROJECTED SERVICES

Dealing with aviation as a means of improving Imperial communications, Sir Samuel Hoare said that early next year a. regular,’, aeroplane-service would be running every week between London and Karachi. Another great trunk aeroplane service was projected between London and Capetown. He was daily expecting detailed proposals which would enable him to judge whether the creation of this service was possible. In regard to airships, lie believed that they could be used for eliminating twothirds of the tjme' now spent in journeys between. London and the capitals of the Empire That was the justification of the programme under which for the last three years the Air -Ministry had been engaged upon the design and construction of two great airships. He anticipated success for the experiment, and Dominion Governments were cooperating, also believing in its success.