BRITISH AVIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20518, 20 March 1930, Page 11

BRITISH AVIATION.

INCREASED ESTIMATES.

SAFETY AMD EFFICIENCY.

EQUIPMENT OF FORCE.

CIVIL FLYING SERVICES.

COMMONS DISCUSSION.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received March 19, 7.45 p.m.) British "Wireless. RUGBY. March 18. In introducing the Air Estimates in the House of Commons, Mr. F. Montague, Under Secretary for Air, said the revised total of last year's estimates, allowing for the supplementary estimate of £760,000, was £16,960,000. This year there was an increase of £890,000, and the total was £17,850,000. The increase was due mainly to the pi'ovision of up-to-date equipment, which was essential alike for safety and efficiency, and to the coming needs of civil aviation and an additional outlay on scientific research " work. By the end of the present financial year, ending March 31, five additional squadrons would have been added to the establishment of the Air Force for the purposes of home defence.

One squadron was a regular one and the other four were organised on the cadre, or auxiliary, basis. It was first intended that 25 per cent, of the home defence force should be on that nonregular basis, but at present the proportion was nearly 33 per cent. Auxiliary squadrons, in their early days, did not require to be equipped on the same scale as regular squadrons. They required, in the first instance, machines of training types rather than service types but, as those squadrons reached maturity, provision had to made for equipping them with up-to-date service aircraft.

No Competition Unless Forced, The Under Secretary laid stress on the moderation and unprovocativc character of Britain's air policy and expenditure. Her air force was substantially exceeded, in terms of first-line strength, by those of France, Italy and the United Slates. The present estimates showed eui actual reduction on the gross figures, compared with the estimates of five years ago, which was in striking contrast to the very large increases in the air expenditure of other Powers in the same period. Moreover, this was despite the fact that Britain's overseas requirements for garrison purposes in the Middle East and India wero much greater than those of other countries.

On a basis of metropolitan strengths Britain had considerably less than half the power standard compared with her nearest neighbour, but the Government did not propose to be drawn into competition in air armaments. Expansion would only take place in so far as it was forced upon the Government by developments abroad and" where :uo other course remained open. The development of the home defence section of the Air Force was proceeding slowly on well-considered lines, the aim of which was quality rather than quantity.

Value of Air Arm in Palestine. As an instance of the successful use of air power, Mr. Mofitague mentioned that in Palestine the prompt arrival of 50 soldiers by air during the recent troubles did much to prevent further serious riots. Aircraft also were able to drive off attacks by Arabs upon isolated Jewish colonies before the arrival of ground reinforcements.

Offensive action from the air was taken 11 times. That proved tho salvation in many instances of otherwise defenceless communities. There was mo evidence of any innocent persons having suffered. Mr. Montague gave other instances of signal services rendered by the Royal Air Force in dealing with rebellious tribes and similar work in Koweik, Irak, the Sudan and the Aden protectorate. In many cases heavy loss of life had thus been averted.

Triumphs ol British Engines. The outstanding achievement last year in engine progress had been the intensive development of the Rolls-Royce engine as ,used in the aircraft which had won the Schneider Cup at a speed of 328.63 miles an hour. By normal standards that engine should give about 820 horse-power, but the two engines used actually sustained an output of more than 1900 horse-power over the course. The triumph of tho British engine was increased a few days later, when the Commanding Officer of a high speed flight set up a world's record of 357.7 miles an hour in a Supermarine Rolls-Royce machine.

It had since been decided not to continue Government participation in the Schneider Cup race. Undoubtedly useful experience had been gained from those contests in the past, and official participation was on that' account justified, but further progress could now be made with greater economy by other means. It was hoped that the widespread public interest displayed would make it possible for the Royal Aero Club and the aircraft industry to organise future contests without the Government's assistance.

Increased Civil Aviation Vote. The increased vote for civil aviation was mainly due to provision for an additional subsidy in respect of an air service io South Africa. Negotiations for the installation of a weekly service between London and Capetown had been brought to a successful issue. The Government of South Africa would make a substantial contribution toward a subsidy over a five years' period and would lend its support and co-opera-tion willingly.

It was contemplated that a regular service between Alexandria and Tanganyika would commence in t!lie autumn of this year and a through service to Capetown in tho spring of 1931.

The Government of India had now extended the England-India service from Karachi to Delhi by means of aircraft chartered from and operated by Imperial Airways, Limited. Preparation of the ground organisation of the route across India was being vigorously pushed forward. The section to Calcutta would be ready at the end of March and it was hoped that by the autumn sufficient progress would have been made to render possible ft service to Rangoon.

Proposals had been submitted to the 'Air Ministry for the operation of the remaining section, between Rangoon and Australia, and it was hoped to find means, in conjunction with the Governments of India and Australia to . inaugurate a through service to Australia as soon as possible after the route along the coast of Burma had been organised. Dealing with airships Mr. Montague said that undoubtedly from a constructional point of view the two completed airships had definitely disproved many gloomy forecasts. Meteorological investigations of the Indiaij route showed that the conditions would generally be adverse on the return journey both between Karachi and Ismalia and between Ismalia and Cardington. The result would be that a large reserve of fuel would have to be carried on the first experimental flight to the East of RlOl. Having regard to the need for a safety policy in a programme of that expensive character it had been decided not to attempt the return flight to India in March or April. An extra bag would be inserted in RlOl this summer, which would increase her capacity by 500,000 cubic feet and give her an additional nett lift of about nine tons. The bag, with the consequential extra lift, was found to be possible because of the satisfactory strength which the airship's tests had disclosed.

The proposed programme for RlOl was a flight to Karachi and back in September or October, then again to Karachi in December or January. After that there would be mooring trials and experimental flying from Karachi. The programme for RIOO consisted of flights to Montreal between May and September and a schedule of flights between Cai'dington and Ismalia between October and March, 1931. Suggested Air Parity Agreement.

Sir Samuel Hoare, who was Secretary of State for Air in the late Conservative Government, said Britain was only fourth or fifth on the list of air Powers. Each of the other great air Powers— America, France and Italy—was at present engaged on a programme of further extension.

At present they were thinking mainly about naval disarmament, but he was inclined to lake the view that in the years to come the most urgent disarmament question would be air disarmament. • It was a sinister fact that the expenditure of all the great Powers, except Britain, upon air armament was literally bounding up year by year. The expenditure of France had risen 113 per cent, in the last five vears, that of Italy 25 per cent., and that of the United States 140 per cent.

Sir Samuel suggested to Mr. Montague that he should investigate again a problem in which he himself was interested before he went out of office, namely, the possibility of arriving at a parity agreement between the three great Powers of Western Europe—France, Italy and Britain. If they could reach an agreement of the kind there would be less risk of air armaments increasing and that agreement would be the best basis for a more general agreement to be reached between all the Powers of the world.

House Passes the Estimates. In replying to the debate Mr! Montague said Britain at present had 707 first-line machines, the United Stales 900, France 1300, Italy 1100 and Japan 500. On the vote for 32,000 men for the Air Force Mr. J. Beckett, Labour member for Cambenvell, moved a reduction by 32,000. He argued that this was in full accord with the Labour Party's policy. Mr. E. Scrymgeour, Independent member for Dundee, complained that the Labour Government was doing exactly the same thing as the Conservatives when they were in oHicc. Mr. Montague said the adoption of the amendment would mean the abolition of the Air Force. He realised that to go to the country on the plank " No Army, Navy, or Air Force," would mean absolute defeat.

Tho amendment was lost by 226 votes to 22 and the Estimates were passed without division.