On a wing and a prayer
PETER HART commends a concise look at the rocky beginnings of the Royal Air Force, in its centenary year
The Birth of the RAF, 1918 by Richard Overy Penguin, 160 pages, £14.99
Richard Overy is to be congratulated on creating a concise exposition of the formation of the RAF – the justification and timing of which were contentious in some quarters. He opens with a canter through its precursors, the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, showing how their roles expanded beyond simple reconnaissance. The RFC were the eyes of the Royal Artillery, probing over the lines to identify and eliminate targets. Ground strafing and bombing raids began to show results, while a start had also been made on bombing ‘strategic’ objectives with raids on the industrial Ruhr region. Sucking in attention were the scouts, buzzing around to protect their own army cooperation machines and attack their opposite numbers. The RNAS had a less visible role, providing air reconnaissance for the fleet and sweeping the seas for U-boats.
Overy shows that the early German bombing raids on England achieved little, despite outrage at civilian casualties. The Zeppelin threat evaporated as air defences improved, but in 1917 raids by Gotha and Giant bombers created a public storm. In response, Lieutenant General Jan Smuts prepared reports which envisaged a unified air service – the RAF. The response was negative from those who understood the complexities of war. However, the British commanderin-chief Douglas Haig and the RFC commander Hugh Trenchard were busy confronting the German army on the western front. They could not counter the attraction to politicians of a shiny new RAF, supposedly capable of inflicting war-winning damage on the German heartlands.
We are guided through the controversies that followed: the brief life of the Independent Bombing Force; confusion over command structure, ranks and uniform – even the RAF flag triggered debate. Splenetic enmities plagued the initial appointments. Ultimately, nothing was accomplished that could not have been achieved by the RFC and RNAS. Inter-service infighting was vicious, but the RAF somehow endured as politicians saw aircraft as the cheap option for imperial policing. This was coupled with widespread public support amid fears of a knockout blow from a foreign air power.
Overy reveals the problems caused by the premature formation of the RAF, a body that hardly anyone wanted, at the time of maximum inconvenience to the army – all to no practical effect in 1918. The subsequent concentration on strategic bombing and home defence meant that, at the start of the Second World War, the RAF would be found wanting in any effective ground co-operation role with the army until 1943. In the Battle of Britain it would achieve its finest hour, but the effectiveness of the bombing offensive against Germany has been much debated. This is a book that makes you
think. Peter Hart is the oral historian at the Imperial War Museum and has written several titles on the First World War