Page 109 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

109
tHe plaCe of douHet: a reassessment

However, very favourable reports about the performance of the CA30 (including
one by General Delme-Radcliffe, Head of the British Military Mission to Italy, who
had been present at a demonstration), as well as of its “remarkable success”, led
many in British aviation to become very interested. In August 1915 Flt. Lt. Valentine
(based in Paris) hastily journeyed to Italy. He was accompanied by Capt. Maurice
Baring (very shortly to become Trenchard’s trusted and indispensable ADC as well
as his “mentor and guide” and lifelong confidante), who had previously served at the
Rome Embassy and was a fine linguist, fluent in Italian. The two men were to see
the Caproni machine, to find out if it could carry the Beardmore engine (the main
weakness of the Italian aircraft industry for most of the war was its poor engines,
and hence the comparative slowness of many of its products), and to judge whether
it was advisable to order one for the RFC. They visited Malpensa, Gallerata, Turin,
Milan and Rome. Their unscheduled visit was a surprise both to a somewhat peeved
British embassy and to the Italian authorities. However, they were courteously treat-
ed by Caproni and all who they met, and, although they did not get to fly in a Caproni
machine, they succeeded in ordering one. It would not, however, be ready for many
months. In September 1915, after urgent arrangements had been made, Caproni’s
brother/partner Federico and another representative, Bugni, visited London in or-
der to confer with the War Office and Admiralty, and to expedite matters. And in
December 1915 Baring and Capt. Cooper were ordered by Trenchard to go to Italy,
to take possession of the Caproni machine (which was now believed to be ready),
to flight test it, and to make arrangements for its being flown back (the preferred
option) or else crated and transported back. The two men visited Turin, Gallerata,
Milan and Malpensa, where they were taken up in a Caproni machine. However,
the plane which had been ordered was not ready to fly. There were difficulties with
the engines. Nor had the aircraft’s export been cleared with the relevant authorities.
Baring and Cooper therefore had no option but to come away empty-handed. In the
end, Valentine (now a Captain) went out to Italy and the plane was flown to France
in stages until it crashed at Dijon. (It had been planned to fly the plane to England
eventually). Not surprisingly, this put paid to British interest for some time.
Interest revived in the spring of 1917, when Wing Commander John Babington
(of the Admiralty Air Department) and O’Gorman (now Civil Engineer to the Di-
rector General of Military Aeronautics) visited Italy in order to fly and report upon
the latest Caproni bomber. They were well received by, and had many discussions
with, Caproni. However, they concluded that the Caproni machine was inferior to
the Handley Page bomber, which had recently entered service. This was perhaps not
unnatural, for Babington had been closely involved with the development and intro-
duction into service of the Handley Page. It is ironic to recall that only a few months
later, the US Bolling Mission, after its visit to Italy, reached the opposite conclusion;
and that, moreover, by the end of 1917, a squadron of Capronis was in service with
the Royal Naval Air Service.
In the summer of 1918 (because of the need for bombers on the Western Front) it