Direct naval control of carrier aviation is imagined as producing a faster cycle of aircraft improvements during the interwar years. Treaty limits restricted what the Navy could do with ships, leaving aircraft as a field in which it could continue experimenting. Engines, propellers and weapons could have received successive trials through closer contact with manufacturers. The comparison is with the Navy's continual alterations to cruiser and destroyer designs. This is a counterfactual about institutional freedom and industrial capacity, including the possibility of a stronger carrier force entering the Second World War.
Notable Point · 1:50:10-1:52:48
How naval control might have changed carrier-aircraft development
Direct control of aircraft requirements is imagined as allowing the Navy to experiment more often with engines, propellers and armament.