Carrier doctrine also depended on people. Britain, Japan, and the United States could build naval aviation expertise from larger pools of observers, pilots, and officers, while France had fewer people and less continuity. Selecting forty officers from four hundred allows much greater discrimination than selecting four from forty. France therefore had a thinner promotion base and a weaker internal community able to define what its carrier aviation should become.
Notable Point · 45:55-49:58
Carrier doctrine needed critical mass
The stream explains why a small French carrier community could not develop leaders and doctrine like larger naval air arms.