HC Deb 17 December 1952 vol 509 cc1372-3
13. Air Commodore Harvey

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many officers of the rank of rear-admiral and above are qualified to fly.

Mr. J. P. L. Thomas

Four, Sir.

Air Commodore Harvey

Does not my right hon. Friend think that if more senior officers of the Navy were qualified to fly we should have more young officers taking up this art? Will he see that their Lordships try to promote more officers to the rank of captain who have been through the Fleet Air Arm or the Navy Air Arm?

Mr. Thomas

I certainly agree with the sentiment of the first part of that supplementary question. I can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that, while only four admirals have the qualification for which he asks, about 50 captains are coming up who have this qualification.

Air Commodore Harvey

Will my right hon. Friend promote some of the captains to senior rank?

Mr. Thomas

I will look into that.

Dr. Bennett

Would my right hon. Friend consider making it a prerequisite, or at least a convention, that those appointed to command aeronautical units, such as carriers or carrier forces, have aeronautical training as a pilot, as I believe is the practice in the United States Navy?

Mr. Thomas

There are two sides to that question. Of course, this really leads up to the point of why the Fleet Air Arm has been integrated into the Navy in Naval Aviation.