1957 Defence White Paper

The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd.230) was a British white paper setting forth the future as seen of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry. Duncan Sandys, the recently appointed Minister of Defence produced the paper.

The decisions were influenced by two major factors: the finances of the country and the coming of the missile age. Where before combat in the air would have been between aircraft; high flying bombers carrying nuclear weapons and fast interceptor fighter aircraft trying to stop them, now the guided missile, particularly the surface-to-air missile threatened all aircraft. The emergent space age showed that missiles could also deliver those nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.

Main aspects of paper

Aircraft industry reorganization

The paper stated that the aircraft industry should re-organise; several smaller companies becoming a few larger ones. It was made clear that new contracts would only be given to such merged firms, including the only new aircraft project, what would become the TSR-2.

Under pressure, in 1960 English Electric, Bristol Aeroplane Company and Vickers-Armstrong merged to form the British Aircraft Corporation, or BAC. Hunting Aircraft soon joined the BAC group. In the same year, de Havilland, Blackburn Aircraft and Folland merged into Hawker Siddeley, which had already consisted of Armstrong Whitworth, Avro, Gloster and Hawker since 1935. Westland Aircraft took over all the helicopter manufacturers, including Saunders-Roe, Fairey Aviation and Bristol's helicopter work. Saunders-Roe's hovercraft work was spun off and merged with Vickers Supermarine as the British Hovercraft Corporation.

Very few companies were left independent after this wave of mergers, leaving only Handley Page as a major independent, along with the smaller companies like Auster, Boulton Paul, Miles Aircraft, Scottish Aviation and Short Brothers. Most of these disappeared by 1970s, leaving only Scottish Aviation to merge into British Aerospace in 1977, and Shorts, which was purchased by Bombardier in 1989.

Engine companies were likewise "encouraged" to merge. In 1959 Armstrong Siddeley and Bristol's engine division merged to become Bristol Siddeley, but were shortly purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, leaving RR as the only major British aircraft engine manufacturer.

Reduction in manned aircraft projects

With the development of missiles, those roles that missiles could cover meant that certain aircraft in development could be cancelled.

These included the next generation of supersonic interceptor for high flying bombers, the F.155 and the interim aircraft that would have covered it until introduction in 1963, namely the Saunders-Roe SR.53, Saunders-Roe SR.177. The Avro 730 supersonic light bomber was also cancelled, as was the Blue Rosette nuclear weapon to arm it. Oddly the Blue Envoy surface-to-air missile was also cancelled, although it would be more in keeping with the spirit of the paper. The English Electric P.1 (which would become the Lightning) was spared only because it was so far advanced to bother cancelling.

Restructuring of the British Army

The British Army was to be reduced in size and reorganised to reflect the ending of National Service and the change to a voluntary army, and to "keep the Army abreast of changing circumstances, policies, weapons and techniques of war". 51 major units and a large number of smaller ones were to be disbanded or amalgamated, leaving the army with a strength of 165,000 officers and men. The process was to carried out in two phases, to be completed by the end of 1959 and 1962 respectively. ["Merged regiments and new brigading - many famous units to lose separate identity", The Times, July 25, 1957]

The Royal Armoured Corps was to be reduced by the amalgamation of:
*The 1st King's Dragoon Guards and the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)
*3rd The King's Own Hussars and 7th Queen's Own Hussars
*4th Queen's Own Hussars and 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
*3rd and 6th Royal Tank Regiments
*4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments
*5th and 8th Royal Tank Regiments

The Royal Artillery was to lose 18 major and numerous small units. The Royal Horse Artillery was to be cut to three regiments.

The infantry of the line was to undergo major changes. Existing regiments were to be grouped in "brigades". Each brigade was to have a single depot with those of the individual regiments being reduced to the status of regimental headquarters. There was to be a reduction in the number of regular battalions from 64 to 49 by the merging of pairs of regiments. The brigades and regiments were to be:
*The Lowland Brigade: The Royal Scots, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and a regiment formed by the merger of the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Highland Light Infantry
*The Home Counties Brigade: The Royal Sussex Regiment, The Middlesex Regiment and two regiments to be formed by the amalgamation of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) with The East Surrey Regiment and The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) with The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
*The Lancastrian Brigade: The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), and three amalgamated regiments formed by The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)/The Border Regiment, The King's Regiment (Liverpool)/The Manchester Regiment and The East Lancashire Regiment/The South Lancashire Regiment
*The Fusilier Brigade: The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, The Royal Fusiliers and The Lancashire Fusiliers
*The Midland Brigade: The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, The Royal Leicestershire Regiment and The Sherwood Foresters
*The East Anglian Brigade: Three regiments were to be formed by amalgamation of The Royal Norfolk Regiment/The Suffolk Regiment, The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment/The Northamptonshire Regiment and The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment/The Essex Regiment
*The Wessex Brigade:The Gloucestershire Regiment, The Royal Hampshire Regiment and two regiments formed by amalgamation of The Devonshire Regiment with The Dorset Regiment and The Royal Berkshire Regiment with The Wiltshire Regiment
*The Light Infantry Brigade: The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, The King's Shropshire Light Infantry, The Durham Light Infantry and a regiment formed by a merger of the Somerset Light Infantry and The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
*The Yorkshire Brigade: The Green Howards, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, The York and Lancaster Regiment and a regiment formed by the merger of The East Yorkshire Regiment and The West Yorkshire Regiment
*The Mercian Brigade: The Cheshire Regiment, The Worcestershire Regiment and a regiment formed by the merging of The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) with The South Staffordshire Regiment
*The Welsh Brigade: The Royal Welch Fusiliers, The South Wales Borderers and The Welch Regiment
*The North Irish Brigade: The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, The Royal Ulster Rifles and The Royal Irish Fusiliers
*The Highland Brigade: The Black Watch, The Gordon Highlanders, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and a regiment formed by the meger of The Seaforth Highlanders with The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
*The Green Jackets Brigade: The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, The King's Royal Rifle Corps and The Rifle Brigade
*The Parachute Regiment was to continue to have three battalions. The Royal Engineers would be reduced by approximately 15,000 officers and men, with divisional engineer regiments to be replaced by field squadrons. The Royal Signals was to lose 13,000 soldiers by reduction of second-line units. Some of the work of the Royal Army Service Corps was to pass to civilian contractors, allowing a loss 18,000 men. The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was to lose 11,000 soldiers, and was to be organised more efficiently with a large number of depots closed. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was to lose 23,000 soldiers. Other arms and services were to be reduced in proportion.

Ending of air branch RNVR

Since 1938 the Air Branch of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve had been contributing reservists for air operations. From 1947 it had been curtailed to anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and fighter units only - there being a large number of propeller aircraft still in use. The increasing complexity of weapons system and the use of helicopters for ASW was thought to be beyond what reservist training could manage. With the ending of the Air branch, the Short Seamew was no longer required and production cancelled

References