Airheads
Sir: In his perceptive and thoughtful review of David R. Mets's Master of Airpower (Books, 8 August), Allan Mallinson sug- gests that if the Ministry of Defence were today starting from scratch it would be hard-pressed to justify an independent air force. I agree. Indeed, I would go further. I am astonished that in the so-called Strate- gic Defence Review it was not considered necessary even to address the question of the continuance of the RAF as a separate service.
Countless billions are wasted by tri-service rivalry and 'triplication'. There is no real coherence in weapons procurement, and as a shameful witness to the artificial separa- tion of command — there now has to be a permanent joint headquarters (at North- wood) to guarantee a measure of integration of operations.
The Battle of Britain was nearly 60 years ago: it is time to move on.
Anthony Leigh-Mallory
27a Portland Crescent, Bath
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