Britain Must Not Rely On American Armaments

Chronicle (Levin), 8 November 1949, Page 5

Britain Must Not Rely On American Armaments

Received Monday 7.30 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 7. A warning against Britain relying solely on American skill to give British air power a ' ' puneh ' ' has been made ( by Lord Tedder, Marshall of the Royal , Air Force. Lord Tedder apparentiy re ferred to Britain "s lack of new longrange heavy bombers. • The United States and Britain are now conferring , on a loan of up to 200 B29s to Britain ! whose postwar production has been eoncentrated on jet-fighters. "To put our punch into the hands of our best friends in the' world — which . the Americans are — would be, I think, something that should not be done, " said Lord Tedder, who continued: "Blitz tacties are probably more tempting than ever before. The democraeies 1 are not aggressors and when attaelied are relatively unprepared. And so we must somehow gain time at the out- ■ set of a war." On the possibilities of a "pushbut- ' ton" war Lord Tedder said: "It may J come in some form in the future, but uot now and not in the immediate future. Personally 1 am quite sure as ! far as we are concerned that the prineiple which had been proved in the last war is true and will remain true for years — that is that in war nothing on the surfaee of land or sea can iight effectively unless and until the situation in the air is under. firm control. Lt is essential that we should alwavs remember that in these modern days wai*, is total. It is a unity involving every single branch of the national life. Defence is not merely a matter of guns, ships and aircraft. Every man and woman in the country has his or her share in the responsibility. «