WAR FROM THE AIR By Air Commodore L. E. 0.
Charlton Air propagandists allow themselves a long start in front of their critics. As is the case in Air Commodore Charlton's book (Nelson, Os.), the air weapon is claimed to be so novel, so entirely without analogy, that no previous experience can serve as a guide to its possibilities in war. With one sweep the field is cleared for imagination to rove unchecked. Our flesh is made to creep with visions of the reeking debris, with or without added horrors of poison gas and bacilli, that will be London after a few hours of the next war. Though details may vary, the theme is ever the same—" the bomber will always get through." In vain we may ask for proof of this : is it, or is it not, pure hypothesis ? Leaving aside the R.A.F. exercises of recent years, some reliable data is available. There is on -record, for instance, the increasing success of our anti-aircraft defences in 1918, which led at last to the abandonment of the German raids on London. Air Commodore Charlton admits that, while aircraft have made great strides since 1918, improvements in defensive methods have at least kept pace. But such aids to an impartial view are rare in his book. It is disappointing to find that the force of his clear reasoning and non-technical style should be dissipated in special pleading. On a stream of argument the reader is floated away from all facts that are inconvenient to the author's thesis. When facts and figures are cited, as in the " geographical " survey, the value of the book is enhanced at once. The author is, above all, a prophet and an advocate of the unlimited air offensive. He proves to his own satisfaction that the Navy has now been rendered obsolete for any of its major functions. Therefore the Air Force is our only true insurance against disaster. The Navy and Army should be reduced to a minimum, and every avail- able penny should be spent on bombing planes—fighting aircraft are useless. Air Commodore Charlton insists that there is no adequate defence against air attack. The sole hope of protecting England, in present circumstances, is the threat of bombing retaliation against an enemy country. Even so, he sadly admits, the hope is meagre indeed.
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