In this interpretation, Air Ministry arguments grew from an overconfident reading of Britain's strategic position, with no need to assume hostility toward the navy. If Germany could be contained in the North Sea, Singapore served as a Far Eastern base, and the Indian Ocean was treated as a British-controlled space, planners could imagine land-based air cover meeting many needs. Those assumptions made carrier and fleet aviation look less urgent, but they obscured situations in which naval forces would need independent, mobile air power. The funding dispute therefore grew from a strategic map that made one service's solution appear sufficient.
Chapter · 30:43-36:50
Why interwar air-power arguments missed naval needs
An interwar discussion explains how assumptions about geography and threats shaped British arguments over naval aviation and funding.