Smuts’ report prompted birth of Royal Air Force The way we were

THIS year marks the centenary of the Royal Air Force (RAF), an important component of Britain’s armed services and the oldest independent air force in the world. Its daring Battle of Britain pilots, known as “The Few,” managed to stave off a planned German invasion of their island in 1940.

And it’s only slightly fanciful to say that if they had failed, the common language in South Africa might have been German instead of English.

The RAF was founded 22 years earlier in terms of a report drawn up by a South African, General Jan Smuts (1870-1950). Like many powerful men, the general’s once stellar reputation has suffered in recent times. He has been accused of hypocrisy and slated for displaying brilliance on the international stage while ignoring pressing race relations issues at home.

However, his role in founding the RAF is acclaimed and his bronze statue, erected in Parliament Square in London in 1956, has drawn only mild criticism.

Shocked by two devastating German air raids on London in 1917, the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, called on Smuts for advice.

To start with, he recommended that the fragmented air defence units be placed under the control of a trained airman instead of an army general.

In the second part of his report, completed in August 1917, he suggested the formation of a separate air ministry to direct all aspects of aerial warfare. Aircraft and personnel attached to the army and the navy should be removed from their parent bodies and merged to form a single unit, the Royal Air Force.

Smuts’s recommendations were accepted and the new RAF came into being on 1 April, 1918. It grew rapidly and was planning to bomb Germany with 40 squadrons when the armistice came into effect in November 1918.

In his report, Smuts had looked ahead prophetically to “the day… when aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industrial and populous centres on a vast scale may become the principal operations of war”.

With the advent of peace, his warnings were ignored and the RAF was almost dismantled and run as cheaply as possible. The Navy and the War Office plotted to try to get their air services back but were thwarted by the chief of air staff.

The RAF weathered the setbacks and began to rebuild in the 1930s, just in time to defy the mighty Luftwaffe in 1940. Today, it is a vital force using leading-edge technology to respond to threats and deliver aid.

On July 10, a service to commemorate the centenary will be held in Westminster Abbey, followed by an anniversary parade and a mass aircraft flypast of 100 aircraft over Buckingham Palace.