Nazi Princess by Jim Wilson Page B

die. 5 It was widely believed that sustained bombardment from the air could produce a revolution in the country. All of this, of course, would prove to be a huge exaggeration, although no one at the time could have realised that. In fact, in the whole of the Blitz – and London was bombed on fifty-seven consecutive nights with 20,000 tons of bombs being dropped – British civilian deaths from bombing totalled 43,000, with 71,000 seriously injured. The authorities had prepared for nearer 600,000 deaths.
    Rothermere argued that Britain needed 5,000 warplanes if she were not to remain at the mercy of her European neighbours. Based on her already substantial civilian flying industry, he forecast that when Germany started to equip herself with a strong Luftwaffe, she would surpass Britain almost overnight. He called the British government’s failure to embark upon a realistic policy to create a properly equipped air force a policy of suicide. It appalled him that since 1925 Britain had cut the annual budget for its air force by almost 10 per cent. As Rothermere wrote in his book, Warnings and Predictions , published in the year the Second World War broke out, ‘by one section of the British population my policy was called “war-mongering”, by the other it was called “pro-Nazi”’. In reality, he said, it was a policy to achieve peace.
    In 1935 Rothermere had translated his views into action, funding and founding an association called the National League of Airmen. This was his personal effort to give wider expression to the need to start building a strong and effective air force. He invested £50,000 (equivalent to £1.7 million at today’s values) in his campaign, and he attracted to the league experienced pilots and supporters, aiming to convince the population, and in particular the government, of the dire need for a modern air force. Full membership of the league was awarded to pilots who had a minimum of 100 hours’ flying time. Associate membership was offered to others who had the ambition to learn to fly. He set up a system to help those who wanted to qualify as a pilot. They could achieve their aim for only £14, and he funded a series of public meetings which swiftly led to the recruitment of several thousand members and potential flyers.
    Hermann Goering, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, had told an acquaintance of Rothermere’s in 1936 that Germany was adding one new aircraft to her fleet every half an hour, and the German munitions and aircraft factories were working seven days a week. It was an exaggeration, but appalled by what this meant if Britain had to face a future war, Rothermere published a further broadside in the Daily Mail in April 1936. 6 The words from Goering, he wrote, had been translated into deeds. Under his programme, Germany was to have had 87,000 aeroplanes by the end of 1935, all of the newest type:‘There is every reason to believe that this programme, at least has been fulfilled, and that since that date the total number of aeroplanes has rapidly increased. It has been estimated that some fifty new aeroplanes, all of the most modern design, are added to Germany’s air fleet daily.’ Rothermere declared that Britain should not waste a moment more and should proceed swiftly to deal with the inadequacy of her own air force.
    Not satisfied with conducting his campaign through words alone, he took practical steps and invested a considerable amount of his own money to commission a high-performance aircraft from the Bristol Aircraft Company, which he christened ‘Britain First’, after the slogan of the British Union of Fascists. It was initially designed as a civil transport aircraft and was delivered within a year. It flew for the first time on 12 April 1935. Fitted with two American variable pitch propellers, it was capable of 307mph; 80mph faster than any fighter being flown by the RAF at that time. Under pressure from Rothermere, the Air Ministry asked the RAF to test it at