Increasingly prescriptive aircraft specifications took shape within the dispute over control of the Fleet Air Arm. The Admiralty wanted the expertise and authority to define aircraft around fleet operations, while the Air Ministry retained responsibility for ordering and influenced selection. Operational requirements emerged as a halfway arrangement: the Navy could state what an aircraft had to do, and the Air Ministry would procure against that demand. M.1/30's detail therefore reflects institutional bargaining as well as technical progress. The procurement document became an instrument of inter-service control.
Notable Point · 57:20-58:26
Operational requirements bridge Admiralty and Air Ministry control
Increasingly detailed specifications became a practical compromise in the struggle over who controlled Fleet Air Arm aircraft design and selection.