The Inskip review heard a plan under which an outside ministry might order aircraft off Royal Navy carriers for a transport mission. That possibility threatened to dismantle the Navy's air plan just as the fleet expected to reach Singapore and meet Japanese forces in the South China Sea. The carriers needed their fighters, strike aircraft, and reconnaissance machines immediately on arrival. Merchant-derived ferry carriers offered a way to move land-based aircraft without sacrificing those naval air groups. The dispute made control of the Fleet Air Arm an operational-readiness issue with immediate consequences for the war plan.
Notable Point · 49:18-50:35
Fleet Air Arm control and readiness for Singapore
The bomber-ferry debate exposed the danger of allowing another service to remove naval air groups immediately before a fleet battle.