17 AUGUST 1934, Page 2

The Air Terror M. Fokker's warning as to the character

of attacks from the air if another war breaks out deserves the closest study in every chancellery of the world. Speaking from his expert knowledge as one of the most famous and experienced of aeroplane designers, he states emphatically that no effective defence has yet been discovered against aeroplane attack. "These attacks will take place like lightning and they will actually be the declaration of war. The attacker will not wait for the formal exchange of scraps of paper' but will strike as soon as war has been decided." Such words as these re-emphasize with tenfold force the urgent necessity of an agreement to outlaw the bomber as an instrument of warfare. But M. Fokker demonstrates, too, how impos- sible that is without the control of civil aviation. His own creation, the F36, can carry six tons, which might include two tons of bombs, and can fly at a speed of nearly 200 miles an hour. Whether, even so, the inter- nationalization of civil aviation or any other form of control would suffice in itself may be questioned. The creation of an international police force may still lie far in the future, but the logic of events and the speed of modern invention will force that development on mankind if civilization is to be saved.

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