Editing Chain Home (section)

==="The bomber will always get through"===<!--This is a quote in the original-->
[[File:Stanley Baldwin ggbain.35233.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|[[Stanley Baldwin]]'s 1932 comments on future aerial warfare led to a "feeling of defencelessness and dismay." It was the UK's concern about this issue that led to so much support being given to radar development while other countries had a much more lackadaisical approach until the war started.]]

At the same time, the need for such a system was becoming increasingly pressing. In 1932, [[Winston Churchill]] and his friend, confidant and scientific advisor [[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell|Frederick Lindemann]] travelled by car in Europe, where they saw the rapid rebuilding of the German aircraft industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/lord-cherwell-churchills-confidence-man.htm |title=Lord Cherwell: Churchill's Confidence Man |first=Madhusree |last=Mukerjee |website=Historynet |date=29 September 2011}}</ref> It was in November of that year that [[Stanley Baldwin]] gave his famous speech, stating that "[[The bomber will always get through]]".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Keith |last1=Middlemas |first2=John |last2=Barnes |date=1969 |title=Baldwin: A Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/baldwinbiography0000midd |url-access=registration |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |page=[https://archive.org/details/baldwinbiography0000midd/page/722 722] |isbn=9780297178590 }}</ref>

In the early summer of 1934, the RAF carried out large-scale exercises with up to 350 aircraft. The forces were split, with bombers attempting to attack London, while fighters, guided by the [[Royal Observer Corps|Observer Corps]], attempted to stop them. The results were dismal. In most cases, the vast majority of the bombers reached their target without ever seeing a fighter. To address the one-sided results, the RAF gave increasingly accurate information to the defenders, eventually telling the observers where and when the attacks would be taking place. Even then, 70 per cent of the bombers reached their targets unhindered. The numbers suggested any targets in the city would be destroyed.<ref name=london/> Squadron Leader P. R. Burchall summed up the results by noting that "a feeling of defencelessness and dismay, or at all events of uneasiness, has seized the public."<ref name=london>{{cite news |title=The Air Attacks on London |newspaper=The Spectator |date=2 August 1934 |page=9 |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/3rd-august-1934/9/the-air-attacks-on-london}}</ref> In November, Churchill gave a speech on "The threat of Nazi Germany" in which he pointed out that the Royal Navy could not protect Britain from an enemy who attacked by air.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=The Threat of Nazi Germany |url=https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1930-1938-the-wilderness/the-threat-of-nazi-germany | people =Winston Churchill |date=16 November 1934 |medium=Audio recording |access-date=19 May 2017}}</ref>

Through the early 1930s, a debate raged within British military and political circles about strategic airpower. Baldwin's famous speech led many to believe the only way to prevent the bombing of British cities was to make a strategic bomber force so large it could, as Baldwin put it, "kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy."<ref name = Times >{{Cite journal | title = Mr Baldwin on Aerial Warfare – A Fear for the Future |journal=The Times | place = London, ENG, UK | date = 11 November 1932 | page = 7 column B}}.</ref> Even the highest levels of the RAF came to agree with this policy, publicly stating that their tests suggested that "'The best form of defence is attack' may be all-too-familiar platitudes, but they illustrate the only sound method of defending this country from air invasion. It is attack that counts."<ref name=london/> As it became clear the Germans were rapidly rearming the ''Luftwaffe'', the fear grew RAF could not meet the objective of winning such a tit-for-tat exchange and many suggested they invest in a massive bomber building exercise.{{sfn|Clark|1997|p=28}}

Others felt advances in fighters meant the bomber was increasingly vulnerable and suggested at least exploring a defensive approach. Among the latter group was Lindemann, [[test pilot]] and scientist, who noted in ''[[The Times]]'' in August 1934 that "To adopt a defeatist attitude in the face of such a threat is inexcusable until it has definitely been shown that all the resources of science and invention have been exhausted."{{sfn|Clark|1997|pp=28-29}}