National Experiences - British Commission for Military History

118 ai r p o w e r in 20 t H Ce n t u ry do C t r i n e s a n d em p l o y m e n t - nat i o n a l ex p e r i e n C e s
Thanks to the work of Alfred Hurley, biographer of Billy Mitchell, we now know
that when he was in Washington, Guidoni sent an Italian Aviation Journal’s summary
of “The Command of the Air” to Air Service HQ and to “Aviation” magazine. The
editor of the magazine discussed the piece with Mitchell, published an appreciation
of “The Command of the Air” by Guidoni in his magazine (Nov. 1922), and planned
to publish a translation of the entire book. In a letter to Douhet, Guidoni quoted the
editor as saying that Mitchell was much impressed; the editor had also compared
Douhet to Mahan. When he was in London, Guidoni certainly passed over Italian
aviation publications to the Air Ministry. Did he, or any of his predecessors, supply
information on Douhet to British Aviation journals like “Flight” or “The Aeroplane”,
both of which gave extensive coverage to the aeronautical developments taking place
in Italy from the mid 20s? Incidentally, it is possible that the British Air Attaché in
Washington sent a copy of Guidoni’s article in “Aviation” magazine to London when
it was published, for he was writing to his superiors shortly afterwards: “the Italian
Air Attaché is granted access to many new developments especially within the US
Army Air Service (a point of leakage now being delicately and cautiously tapped by
your attaché)”.
In his famous and controversial memorandum “The War Object of an Air Force”
(May 1928), in which he first openly argued the case for an independent strategy in
a future war, Trenchard referred to “foreign thinkers”. Two weeks later, MacNeece
Foster, a prominent member of the Air Staff, was cheerfully reporting to Trenchard
the “considerable effect” of his quoting “Italian sources” at a lecture which he gave
at the Imperial Defence College. Later that same month, in a minute which he wrote
attacking critics of Trenchard’s memorandum, Foster reiterated his firm belief that
some “continental nations do regard the importance of the air as something quite
unique”, and quoted as supporting evidence the utterances of Oronzo Andriani, a
leading figure in Italian military aviation. Foster was quoting from a powerfully
Douhetian speech on the subject of objectives in time of war that had been reported
in Britain three years earlier; the speech had evidently made a lasting impression on
at least one member of the Air Staff. It is extremely tempting to speculate that Foster
had a hand in writing Trenchard’s memorandum and that he utilised Andriani’s
speech in the writing. Foster was very knowledgeable about foreign aviation: he was
the British air delegate to the League of Nations at Geneva. Foster gave lectures at
the RUSI in Nov. 1925 and Dec. 1927. These lectures were Douhetian in everything
but name; however, they received no criticism from within the RAF. Significantly,
Foster was favourably quoted or referred to by several of the airpower propagandists,
including PRC Groves and Spaight. In June 1928 the Air Staff campaign received
extra ammunition in the form of a translation of a German article, in which leading
airpower theorists - including Douhet - were enthusiastically quoted, and which was
circulated to, among others, Spaight and Trenchard. To be sure, Douhet was not the
only authority to be mobilised by the Air Staff at this time, but he does seem to have
been one of the more prominently deployed.