LOOKING FORWARD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22509, 17 September 1938, Page 21

LOOKING FORWARD

Air Forces After 100 Years

[By AN AERONAUTICAL CORRESPONDENT.]

THE hope of everybody must be that there will be no air force 100 years from now. For if an attempt is made to forecast the jnpxrp.. by observing the trends of it must be concluded that th Jeadliness of the air weapon will continue to increase with the years until it reaches the point where, if there is no limitation, the machine will indeed be master of the man, and nations at war would destroy themselves in the act of destroying their opponents. From any review of aerial der velopment it becomes apparent that man, has failed signally in the way he has directed it. He has turned it more and more to military purposes; he has developed it always with the object of war in mind. His air lines themselves have been "'"strategic"; his commercial aviation Has been subsidised so that it shall -provide a reserve of pilots-in readiness for .war. Aviation might have been a great force, for world prosperity arid world happiness. It has been turned into the most ghastly menace con- | or conceivable., At this ■noment the nations of the world jcre straining their resources to tbuild up enormous bombing fleets. {When a war breaks out,these will jbe used ruthlessly in accordance

with the doctrine of central shock. People still talk glibly of bombing only military objectives, but they know that every living thing in a country at war under modern conditions is a "military objective" and so a "legitimate" target for the bomb. In 30 years aviation has reached the stage when it is the most powerful destructive force known. Its constructive, or commercial, side is relatively so puny as not to be worth consideration. Aviation, through evil direction, has centred itself upon the bomb. When one thinks of an aeroplane to-day one thinks .of the bomb. If- that state of affairs • can be reached in 30 years it is impossible to believe that it can continue for another 100. years. Some man or some nation must arise with the influence to check the militarisation of aviation, and redirect it along commercial touring and mail-carry-ing channels. I cannot believe that the world -will commit suicide. Yet any suggestion that Air Forces will continue to develop for 100 years presupposes that the world' is bent upon suicide. It appears, therefore, that, if civilisation still exists 100 years from now, the hope that it will contain no such thing as an air force must be. fulfilled. The first line strength of my air force of 100 years hence is therefore a cipher.