New-York tribune., 1922-07-16


H. Admiral Sir Percy Scott has
been informing the British
---- pubIic that wars Of the future
will be won in the air.
"What use is a battleship?" ne
taunted the Admiralty; and, as no re-
ply was Forthcoming from that exalted
quarter, he quoted with evident relish
the answer which, he said, midship-
man had given him:
"No damned use at ALI"
Until about week ago, Sir Percy
was almost alone in his crusade against
! capital ships. Then he received aid
Indirectly, to be sure--from an unex-
pected quarter Several London news
papers suddenly discovered that
Britain's flying forces were shockingly
inadequate. The public was forthwith
bombarded morning and afternoon
with figures showing that Great
Britain ranked away down among the
also-rans, somewhere behind Czecho-
Slovakia, and similar countries, with
regard to military and naval aviation.
Lurid pictures were drawn of new
European wars, with London being re-
duced to ruins and its millions ex-
terminated within twenty-four hours Of
q declaration of hostilities. People
who remember very vividly the crash OF
bombs and the rattle of shrapnel about
them during the air raids of the World
/ did
were childs play to those that would
| be employed in the next war.
The furor that was raised was OF
such proportions that various govern
ment officials issued more Or less
vigorous defenses Of their policies.
| Arguments By Press
For Larger Air Force
| The points made by the section of
the press, which began the agitation
! for a larger air force were divisible
| into two main categories. The first
.argument was that, while Britain had
fewer military airplanes than France,
the planes were moreover scattered
throughout the British Empire, so that
within the respective territories of
Britain and France the number of
squadrons was twelve and 220. The
second contention was that, while Con-
tirental countries could add heavily to
their potential air strength by sub
sidizing commercial airplanes, Britain
had not done this to any great extent.
/ Air Marshal Trenchard, replying to
| the first complaint at a public dinner,
admitted that the Royal Air Force es-
tablishment in these islands was small,
but contended that it was extremely
efficient, and capable of rapid and al
most unlimited expansion. The news
papers retorted by declaring that the
most modern type of plane possessed
By the Royal Air Force had a speed of
| 130 miles an hour; while such machines
! as the Bamel could do 212
Furthermore" they said in effect,
'the airplane works all have shut down
or are going out of business. By the
time you can collect sufficient planes
and pilots-for land defenses are prac-
tically useless against bombing raids
future war will have been lost"
Captain F. E. Guest, Secretary of
State for Air, in reply to question
in Parliament, stated that the numbers
of civil aircraft borne on the French.
Belgian and Dutch registers were on
May /, 1922, sos, SO and Is, respective
| ly. Germany, he also said, had 225
airplanes available for air traffic; while
he estimated the American total az
1900.
"In the absence of any authoritative
statement by the governments con-
cerned," he added, "it would be i'm
possible to say what proportion Of
these planes would be of value for
fighting or air-training purposes: but
it is probable that the number fit for
modern warfare is small.''