Some interwar air-power advocates predicted bombers carrying enormous loads and argued that aviation would make ships, tanks, and other forces unnecessary. Those claims became weapons in fights over limited defence funding, described here as budget wars. The dispute encouraged claims of total replacement instead of careful judgments about contemporary aircraft. Carriers already offered reconnaissance, spotting, fighter defence, and mobile fleet support without relying on those forecasts.
Notable Point · 31:15-32:14
Air-power claims collide with interwar budget wars
Interwar advocates sometimes used extravagant bomber predictions to argue that ships and armies were obsolete, turning aviation claims into weapons in fights over limited defence budgets.