HC Deb 12 November 1940 vol 365 cc1563-4
29. Mr. De la Bère

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will assure the House that detailed and comprehensive arrangements have been arrived at for the close co-operation of all branches of the Army and the Air Force?

Mr. Eden

Detailed and comprehensive arrangements have been arrived at. These have been the subject of discussion between the Air Ministry and War Office during the last two months, and the machinery to be set up is something far in advance of what we have had up till now. Much has been done during the summer and autumn, but the means of co-operation now decided upon will be fully operative by 1st December. The exact nature of the scheme cannot yet be made public. For the present it is enough to say that the whole matter of co-operation between all parts of the Army and Royal Air Force is now on an agreed and sound basis.

Mr. De la Bère

Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman would care to give an assurance that this matter is satisfactory in the Middle East, where he has just been?

Mr. Eden

I can certainly give that assurance. I have never known conditions in which co-operation between the two Services was better than it now is there.

Sir H. Williams

Does the co-operation to which the right hon. Gentleman refers include co-operation in training between anti-aircraft units and the Royal Air Force?

Mr. Eden

I am not quite sure that I had that in mind. What I had in mind was co-operation in training between the Army and the Royal Air Force.

Mr. Bellenger

Can the right hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that actual operational co-operation is being carried on between the Army and the Air Force, in view of the very bitter experiences in the French débacle?

Mr. Eden

That is just one of the points I have in mind. I do not want to be drawn further at present. The House will see that much work has been done on this matter in the last few months.