A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK I N all the controversy about this country's
lack of dive-bombers one rather salient name seems, whether by accident or design, to have escaped all mention. On Wednesday Sir Archibald Sinclair said in Parliament, as he had said several times before, that dive- bombers were ordered in July, 1940. When faced with a state- ment by the Minister of Aircraft Production in July, 1941, that he had received no orders to provide dive-bombers, Sir Archibald declined comment. But the position, surely, is plain enough. Lord Brabazon, as Minister in July, 1941, could not have received orders given in July, 1940. The Minister of Aircraft Production at the earlier date was Lord Beaverbrook. It was to him that the country looked for dive-bombers. In the House of Lords on July 11th, 1940, he made an itnpressive speech on the magnitude of the orders placed in the United States and of the sums expended there. Deliveries, he added, were not only up to date but ahead of it. That was in July, 1940. Where, in June, 1942, are the dive-bombers? Who ordered them, and from whom, and what happened then? These questions need answering.
Previous page
