by Guy Warner
As ordered by the Prime Minister, the membership of the sub-committee was particularly strong. The chairman was the newly ennobled Viscount Haldane, the Secretary of State for War. Other members included Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Esher, a permanent member of the Committee of Imperial Defence; and Colonel Seely, the Under-Secretary of State. Included among the service members were Vice Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, the Second Sea Lord; Lieutenant C.R. Samson,152 despite his junior rank, for his technical expertise; Major General C.F. Hadden, Master-General of the Ordnance; and Brigadier General David Henderson of the General Staff. Mervyn O’Gorman represented the Army Aircraft Factory, while Sir R. Chalmers, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, completed the membership. (Henderson153 (1862–1921), would become the Director General of Military Aeronautics in 1913 when the War Office at last came to recognise the importance of aviation, and of whom Lord Trenchard said, ‘he was the founder and father of the Air Force.’) There was debate and uncertainty within the sub-committee concerning the utility of airships in future military and naval operations, which was mirrored in the changes of mind in the fertile brain of Winston Churchill. In December 1911, he stated to the subcommittee that he would require a good deal of converting before he could acquiesce to a policy of building dirigibles.154 By April 1912, he had become convinced that airships seemed likely to become, ‘an indispensable adjunct of the fleet’.155 Early in the following year he engaged in a lively correspondence and debate with the First Sea Lord, Sir Arthur Wilson, which concluded, somewhat waspishly, as follows:
‘In these notes I have endeavoured to merely supply you with the facts and arguments as they are at presently known to us, and I do not wish to be taken as expressing a decided opinion in favour of airships compared to aeroplanes. In thanking you again for your paper, may I remark that it will give my colleagues and myself much pleasure to receive at any time helpful criticisms and any information or suggestions on these difficult air problems that we are now faced with.’156
In some quarters of the Royal Navy it was believed that the First Lord’s enthusiasm for air power was actually of positive benefit:
‘It was common gossip amongst junior officers, no doubt with very little foundation, that the Sea Lords had gladly given the forceful young First Lord a free hand over air matters in order to divert him from interfering with the Grand Fleet.’157
It was decided that a technical sub-committee, chaired by Seely, should examine the whole question of airships, and would result in the commissioning of a fascinating investigative mission for Sueter and O’Gorman which will be described later.158 The main recommendation of the full sub-committee’s report would be ready within three months and, as will be seen, would have far-reaching consequences for both Army and Royal Navy aviators.
Not everyone agreed with the stately progress with regard to aeronautics as favoured by Haldane; an alternative view was expressed by Viscount St Aldwyn, who, as Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, had served as Lord Salisbury’s Chancellor of the Exchequer at the end of the nineteenth century:
‘My Lords, all my official experience as ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer would induce me to refrain from pressing the War Department in regard to anything that would involve unnecessary expenditure. But I do think that in this matter there has been very slow progress indeed. The noble viscount appeared to me to be waiting for some design of perfection in this matter. Now that has never been the policy of the Navy, and quite rightly too. I remember ships built on designs which were considered reasonably good in order that we might be provided with what at any rate was the best that could be obtained at that time. I would venture to tell the noble viscount opposite that I am afraid under present circumstances, if we should unfortunately be involved in war, we should be quite unprepared with regard to appliances of the kind which have been the subject of discussion. I do hope, therefore, that the War Office will take care that there is some provision in respect of aviation without waiting for some possible design in the future which may not be attained until it is too late.’159
The policy of the government up to this time was well summarised in a report of the Technical Sub-Committee of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, dated 30 July 1912, which boasted of assuming the position of the ostrich:
‘Up to the end of the year 1911 the policy of the government with regard to all branches of aerial navigation was based on a desire to keep in touch with the movement rather than to hasten its development. It was felt that we stood to gain nothing by forcing a means of warfare which tended to reduce the value of our insular position and the protection of our sea power.’160
Neville Usborne’s Flying Career Resumes
It would appear that Usborne’s career did not suffer because of his close association with HMA No 1. In February 1912 he was elected as one of the first Associate Fellows of the Aeronautical Society along with Captain Murray Sueter and fellow airship pilot, Lieutenant Clive Waterlow, RE. They were in august company as others elected by the same ballot included Frederick Handley Page, Horace Short and E.T. Willows. The Aeronautical Society had been created in 1866 for the purpose of increasing knowledge of aeronautics, and marked the beginning of the establishment of a systematic record of aeronautical study and achievement in Britain. It obtained a Royal Charter and so added Royal to its title in 1918.
From his naval record of service it would seem that Usborne was posted to HMS Victory for the first three months of 1912. This may have been a holding appointment, or perhaps a short course at the School of Navigation.
On the evening of 4 March 1912, the Aeronautical Society held a meeting at the Royal United Service Institution at which Lieutenant Waterlow of the Air Battalion, Royal Engineers, read a paper entitled Military Airships, in which he surveyed the current position of airships in the British Army. The audience included his superior officers Major Bannerman and Captain Broke-Smith. He deprecated the fact that the Royal Aero Club had so far issued only eight airship pilot certificates, with seven of these having been gained by soldiers. He argued that support from the air of military formations was not a question of either aeroplanes or airships, but that both could be developed. He examined the difficulties faced by airships which he listed as weather, transport and hostile aircraft. He regarded flying in strong winds as being quite safe; saw rain, snow, hail and mist as problems which could be overcome by carrying an adequate supply of ballast, which could be jettisoned if excess precipitation increased the weight of the airship; but recommended the avoidance of thunder and lightning. He discussed the development of a portable mooring mast, to which the airship Beta had been attached in successful trials earlier that month and which could be transported on a single lorry. (This was a tall pole fitted with a revolving cone, into which the nose of the airship was placed, allowing it to be moored into the wind, from whichever direction it blew.) Other stores, cylinders of compressed hydrogen, a portable ladder (to access the car when the airship was moored at its mast), repairing materials, wire, hemp cordage, leak detecting instruments, spares for the engine and tools; he estimated could be accommodated in a further two motor lorries, along with a ground crew of ten to twenty. As regards hostile aircraft, he suggested that the prudent airship captain should either run away or seek security at a greater height. As defensive armament he proposed a light gun capable of firing shrapnel shell (reminiscent of the swivel guns mounted on a wooden warship). He noted that an aeroplane could attack an airship by three methods: by getting above and dropping something on it, by firing from the same level, or by ramming it – which would be a fairly desperate last resort, one would hope. As regards artillery fire from the ground, he felt that at 1000 feet or below, the airship was vulnerable and that climbing to 4000 feet with the prevailing wind would promote reasonable safety. He emphasised that the proper role of the airship when confronted by a hostile aeroplane was defensive, and whilst it should have some means of defending itself, running away was really the best optio
n. The ideal crew should consist of a pilot, steersman, engineer, wireless operator, gunner and observer, while the optimum role was reconnaissance, with bomb dropping as an additional possibility.161
Beta attached to a portable mooring mast.
The Naval Airships Branch was reformed and a group of officers and men was attached to the Military Airship Branch. This for once, seems to have been a sensible decision, inter-service rivalry was set aside, the navy would learn from the army’s airshipmen, becoming:
‘Part of a small band of enthusiasts to whom disaster and disappointment were the salt of endeavour, and it was on the technical knowledge and experience of these pioneers that the country had to rely, when the need came, for the rapid building up under duress, of what was to prove an essential part of the defence against the submarine, one of the most subtle and powerful weapons that the country was called upon to meet.’162
The aim, according to the Aerial Sub-Committee of the CID was to:
‘Train the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps to handle the largest airships and to provide a sufficient number of these, together with the necessary sheds, hydrogen plant and accessories as soon as the personnel to take charge of them are ready. At the present time, however, the Military Wing has far more practical experience in handling airships than the Naval Wing. Therefore the function of the Military Wing in the new development of airships should be to train and assist the Naval Wing.’163
The same report noted that the airship was superior to the aeroplane for prolonged operations across the sea, as it could be steered accurately by compass and its position fixed by astronomical observation, for both of which it gave a much better platform. It also stated that the airship had a greater radius of action, was superior for the purpose of communication by wireless telegraphy, could carry a greater weight of explosives and could aim them with greater accuracy by hovering over the target, which quality would also allow for better photography and observation. Nor were airships believed to be especially vulnerable to artillery fire, as recent experiments made by the Ordnance Board had shown that no existing British gun could be relied upon to hit an airship. Moreover, great difficulty had been experienced in constructing a fuse which would cause a shell to burst on impact with an airship’s gasbag, or in manufacturing an incendiary shell. The fairly small speed differential between airships and aeroplanes, and the greater ability of the airship to ascend rapidly, did not inspire great confidence in an aeroplane’s capability to ensure an airship’s destruction. It was considered that the answer might lie in the creation of a force of armed interceptor airships. Consideration was also give to the future provision of airships, it being decided that the best way ahead was to build gradually on the very limited number of small airships currently in military service by acquiring larger vessels over a period of time, as the personnel involved gained in experience. To this end the purchase of the Willows craft, an Astra-Torres type from France, a Parseval from Germany and the construction of an improved Gamma type was recommended, all of which were non-rigids; while the development of a rigid type should be kept, ‘under close observation’.164
On 1 April 1912, Usborne was sent to Arnold House, Farnborough, as Squadron Commander, Naval Airship Section, Royal Flying Corps Airship Wing, with Commander Masterman also posted as the CO of the Naval Section, together with the future airship pilots, Lieutenants RN, F.L.M. Boothby and H.L. Woodcock, for the Airship Course, and a party of ratings.165 (Sadly, only ten days before, his birthplace of Queenstown was the scene of the RMS Titanic’s last landfall before proceeding across the North Atlantic on her doomed maiden voyage.) This was only a month after the first military use of airships, the Italian Army’s small non-rigids P1 and P3 making reconnaissance flights over the Turkish lines near Tripoli taking still and motion pictures, dropping grenades and spotting for the artillery. The Times was; ‘Profoundly impressed by the skill and coolness of their pilots, and firmly convinced of the practical value of aviation in war’ and added; ‘We are probably at the beginning of a long struggle between the advocates of the aeroplane and those of the airship. Both types of aircraft must be provided by a nation which has to consider the prospect of war.’ Useful additional information included the fact that the Italians had three classes of airship – P for piccolo, M for medio and G for grande.166
Usborne was joining a group of experienced and capable army airshipmen. He would have to work hard and learn quickly in order to make his mark in their company. The knowledge that he would gain in flying the RFC’s dirigibles would be of enormous benefit to him when it came to designing one of the most successful classes of dirigible ever built just a few short years in the future. Not long after he arrived at Farnborough he was given a task by the Admiralty, being directed to call on Messrs Barr and Stroud, the Glasgow-based firm of optical instrument manufacturers, to give them information concerning balloons and airships to assist in designing a rangefinder for use in anti-balloon firing.167
As has been described, Beta had been giving useful service since 1910 and had been the subject of a series of modifications, including being fitted with wireless. The portable mast experiment mentioned by Clive Waterlow had included leaving Beta out in a 33mph snowstorm (53kph) in which she had suffered no harm. It was reported by Flight Magazine on 1 June that Usborne had been taken up as a passenger in both the airships Beta and Gamma. In the same issue it noted that Gamma had undergone a programme of alterations which had improved its flying characteristics when taken out by Lieutenant Waterlow as pilot-in-charge, Captain Maitland steering, an NCO mechanic in charge of the engines and Captain Lefroy (the commander of the Wireless Experimental Section RE) handling the wireless apparatus. A flight of about twenty minutes was made, of which two minutes was occupied by the return journey with the wind. During the flight the steadiness and stability of the ship was most remarkable, an excellent straight course was maintained and a uniform elevation which appeared to be something under 500 feet.168
It was further noted that it was now becoming quite common to see the airships flying about in weather conditions when the aeroplane sheds remained firmly closed. Gamma had in fact been virtually rebuilt, with a new envelope of 101,000 cubic feet (2858 cubic metres), manufactured by Willows, a box elevator at the stern of the car replacing the previous fore and aft pair and two new 45 hp (33 kW) Iris engines, giving her a top speed of about 30mph (48kph). In April she had visited London:
‘On the early morning of Monday, the reconstructed army airship Gamma paid another visit to the metropolis and circled round St. Paul’s. Captain Maitland was in charge, assisted by Lieutenant Waterlow, while in the engine room were Mr Irving and Corporal Scovell, with Captain Allen and Lieutenant Carfrey as passengers. Farnborough was left at 6.15 and, pushing her way through a headwind, the airship reached St. Paul’s about 8.30. Turning above the cathedral, she then started back on her return journey and, with the wind behind, was soon out of sight, Farnborough being reached again in fifty-seven minutes. On the 19th inst., with seven passengers on board, she was up to a height of a mile. Beta was also out with a full crew, while the three army aeroplanes made several tests. On Saturday morning Gamma, with Captain Broke Smith in command, was up to a height of 1,000 feet and flew to Haywards Heath and back’.169
An event of considerable note took place in May following the recommendations of the sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, now under the chairmanship of Colonel J.E.B. Seely. (Later Baron Mottistone, (1868–1947) he would succeed Haldane as the Secretary of State for War in June 1912 when Haldane became Lord Chancellor. During the First World War he commanded the Canadian Cavalry Brigade.) The Air Battalion RE was replaced on 13 May 1912 by the formation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), ‘an aeronautical service for naval and military purposes’170 which consisted initially of a Military Wing of one airship and man-carrying kite squadron, and two aeroplane squadrons, a Naval Wing, the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough (which was directly descended from the old Balloon Facto
ry, having been renamed the Army Aircraft Factory in April 1911) and the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon in Wiltshire. One of the first officers to take the CFS aeroplane course, Lieutenant Charles Longcroft, later wrote that he was surprised to find that the instruction began with a series of ascents in spherical balloons to learn the arts of aerial sketching and report writing, followed by a flight in Gamma and a number of free ballooning trips which continued for about six weeks, ‘by which time we were all heartily sick of it’. It is possible that a lack of aeroplanes accounted for this seemingly retrograde step.171
It was also recommended that in view of the considerable cost involved it was not considered advisable to build rigid airships. Non-rigid airships were regarded as having military value as they could carry efficient wireless telegraphy apparatus, which the aeroplanes of that period could not. Kites were thought to be of use as they were the only means of aerial observation in really high winds. All were required by the War Office to work in close co-operation.
The King visited Farnborough on 23 May, and, as well as watching some evolutions performed by Beta, he visited the factory to see how work on the new airship, Delta, was progressing. It may well have been that some of Usborne’s first flights with the army were in the dark, as it was reported in June:
‘Army Airship in the Dark. Experiments were carried out last week at Farnborough with the army airships Beta and Gamma in the “wee small” hours. About 11 pm on the 29th, Beta went up and cruised until after midnight, and similar operations were carried out on the following day. On the 31st Gamma ascended, in charge of Captain Maitland, at 10.30 pm and carried out a cruise of an hour and a quarter, while Beta made a similar trip.’172
Following an inspection and air test on 10 June by Lieutenant Waterlow, on 18 July, the Willows No 4 airship and its shed were purchased by the Admiralty for £1050, being named as HMA No 2, despite Waterlow’s positive but less than ringing endorsement:173