FUTURE NAVIGATION POLICY IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

British Air Ministry

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	What is the importance of navigation to the RAF? Among many aviators, and certainly among a great majority of the general public, there is a firm conviction that the most important and most interesting feature of flying is the actual physical control of the aircraft. I do not wish to undermine the status of that skillful and exacting art, but I do want to suggest that an essential quality of a competent airman is that he should have mastered the art of getting where he wants to go, of being able to guide his aircraft in safety to his objective, whatever it may be, and if necessary do so under difficult conditions of weather or enemy attack. The importance of safe navigation to aircraft operating on civil duties is obvious. Its importance to military aircraft is, however, often overlooked. The air strategists recognize that the outstanding characteristics of air forces are five in number. These are range, speed, flexibility, mobility, and power of evasion and maneuverability. In other words, air forces provide a means of hitting the enemy hard from long range and of concentrating that blow into a very short space of time.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 1, Number 3
Pages:	49 - 50
Cite this article:	Ministry, British Air, "FUTURE NAVIGATION POLICY IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1946, pp. 49-50.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In