BRITAINS AIR POLICY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18442, 28 March 1922, Page 9

BRITAINS AIR POLICY.

AN EXPERT’S PROPOSALS. * LONDON, March 25. Brigadier-General Groves, air expert, in concluding a series of special articles in the Tinies, submits that the aims of the British air policy should be: One —to build as rapidly and economically as possible a striking air force for home defence, lest the heart of the Empire be open to a sudden direct attack from the air. Two. —To provide the Army and Navy with specialised air forces with essential efficiency. Three. To create a Royal Air Force organisation to carry out the duties at present performed by the Army and Navy. Four. —To maintain and develop the aircraft industry. Civil aviation has suffered in the past because. it had not been definitely and clearly identified with national defence. State grants are the only possible method of creating defensive air fleets, or exploiting and utilising civil aviation, of which the bulk of the material and personnel should be promptly available at the outbreak of war. We are faced with an intensive growth of air power throughout the Continent and the world, and are not creating adequate means to meet that force. Nearly four centuries ago our great sea captains laid the foundation of our sea power and gave England peace and security. We no longer may look to sea power to protect us. We stand upon the threshold of a new age, and to us is given a greatei task, the building up of a mightier force to safeguard the future of the Empire.