Mr William Taylor: An operational requirement has been drawn up for a V.T.O.L. ground attack aircraft. Following the Minister of Defence's recent meeting with the German Minister of Defence, the hon. Member will have noted that there is to be joint development of an aircraft based upon the Hawker P1127. There are no plans to introduce a V.T.O.L. long-range bomber.
Mr William Taylor: I appreciate that these developments are important, and that it takes a very long time indeed to develop aircraft on an entirely new principle, as these aircraft are, but I cannot accept the charge made by the hon. Gentleman that the Air Ministry is dragging its feet.
Mr William Taylor: I think the hon. Gentleman had a Question on this subject recently which was devoted principally to the civil aviation aspect. I think he asked on that occasion that there should be a military requirement in order that a civil version could be developed from it. Now, there is a military requirement, and I have just said that the development contract is to be placed for that aeroplane. The...
Mr William Taylor: I take no exception whatever to what the hon. Gentleman said. I appreciate that this is an important development which will take time, and no fruitful field will be neglected in trying to achieve the best possible results.
Mr William Taylor: The hon. Gentleman is under an entire misapprehension about this. I think he is referring to the SC1, which was developed by Short Brothers and Harland, of Belfast. While it was a very interesting project, it is designed for research into a technical principle, but it is not itself a military aircraft.
Mr William Taylor: I will, with permission, answer this Question and numbers 31 and 33 together.
Mr William Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will now, with permission, answer this Question and Questions Nos. 31 and 33 together. During the period 10th May to 16th May, V-bombers took part with other Royal Air Force units in exercises similar to those held in previous years. Our intention to hold these exercises and a statement of the area in which they were to take place were published in a Notice to...
Mr William Taylor: With all due respect to the hon. Gentleman, I do not feel that I should in this House discuss matters of procedure and strategy with regard to one of the main defence elements of this country. I cannot accept what the hon. Gentleman said about an outmoded theory being used.
Mr William Taylor: I am not responsible for what appears in the Press. I can only repeat that the way in which these exercises were planned and executed ruled out any possibility of provocation. They were carried out in accordance with the best modern military principles, and, surely, if we have a Royal Air Force which we have built up by such great efforts, it is entitled to have rehearsals to enable it to...
Mr William Taylor: I have already replied to the hon. Gentleman's Question about the area in which these exercises took place. With regard to whether they carried nuclear weapons, it is not the practice to discuss operational procedures of this kind, and, with all respect to the hon. Gentleman, I do not intend to make an exception on this occasion.
Mr William Taylor: I am not prepared to discuss what appeared in the Press. I am not responsible for it, and a good deal of it is very highly coloured and nowhere near the truth. The fact is that annual major exercises of this kind have been a feature of the training of Bomber and Fighter Commands in the Royal Air Force for some years. This year, the exercises of the two Commands were held concurrently to take...
Mr William Taylor: If it were only a question of informing the British public, that would be one thing, but I am not prepared to go any further than I have stated in my reply.
Mr William Taylor: Almost everything the hon. Gentleman has just said is untrue. I have before me, on the Box, a statement of the Press hand-out which was given to the Press by the Air Ministry, and it does not bear any relation to what the hon. Member has said. He may have a copy any time.
Mr William Taylor: There was no provocation of any kind, as I have said in my original reply. I will have the details which were given to the Press circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Mr William Taylor: The exercises were extremely successful. It will take some time for the results to be fully analysed, but preliminary reports show that they went very well, indeed. I am sorry if the hon. Gentleman thought that I had lost my usual courtesy, but if I am bristling a bit it is at some of the supplementary questions which have been put to me and which seem a little wide of the mark and not...
Mr William Taylor: Present indications are that we have a reasonable chance of reaching this year's recruitment target for the Education Branch. The position is at present less satisfactory in the Medical Branch but we hope this will be remedied by the new rates of pay and increased short service gratuities recently introduced for that Branch.
Mr William Taylor: It would not be in the public interest to give this information.
Mr William Taylor: I have seen the reports to which the hon. Member refers and they are grossly exaggerated. There has been a minor setback in the erection of certain steel works, due to labour difficulties and gale force winds. Unforeseen circumstances of this kind were allowed for in planning the work and the project is still expected to be completed on time.
Mr William Taylor: I was asked when I expected the ballistic missiles early warning station at Fylingdales to be completed, and the hon. Member's supplementary question had nothing whatever to do with that.
Mr William Taylor: I am advised that they are the normal difficulties which arise when a new site is opened up when weather conditions are severe. Until the men get on to the site and get settled down they do not quite know what they are called upon to do or what is involved. I suppose that it is a case of that kind.
