Manuscript report entitled "Aeroplanes and Seaplanes" written on Admiralty headed paper, describing a crisis in the management of the Air Service by the Sea Lords, 31 Mar 1916

Item

Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAQ/1/2/6/2-18

Scope and Contents

Reporting on subjects including the successful impact of WSC and Lord Fisher's policy of obtaining as many aeroplanes and seaplanes as possible, and attacks on Germany carried out early in the First World War; the detrimental impact of the reduction in the Air Service implemented by 4th Sea Lord, Commander Lambert, following WSC's and Fisher's departure from the Admiralty; strong criticism of Lambert and the 1st and 2nd Sea Lords [Admiral Henry Jackson and Admiral Frederick Hamilton], and stating that they were all against the Air Service; findings and the verdict of the Sea Lords' court of enquiry into the Air Service in 1915; how the Air Service was being run, and reasons why not many operations were being carried out; the inactivity of the whole Admiralty; Lord Charles Beresford's speech of the 9 Mar 1916 being inspired by Lambert; that Lord Derby [Edward Stanley] and Lord Montagu wanted to create an Air Ministry; and that Mr Balfour had said that the Sea Lords would resign if the control of the Air Service was taken from them, and that all the airmen thought this would be a good thing as then Lord Fisher could take control.

With some annotations in red crayon

Dates

Creation: 31 Mar 1916

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.

This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.

Extent

1 item(s)

Additional Description

Custodial History

This item is not stamped with a “Chartwell Trust” or “W.S.C.” stamp, so was not part of the Chartwell or Churchill papers which were stamped by the Public Record Office in 1961-1964.