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indeed, carry out espionage with perfect impunity by proceeding on the completion of their mission to foreign territory beyond the reach of the British law.
22. To guard against this it is, in the opinion of the Sub-Committee, imperative that statutory powers should be obtained to make signals warning persons approach- ing restricted areas in aircraft to alight or to alter course, and in the event of such signals being disregarded to open fire and to use such other military force as may be available and required.
23. In order to guard against espionage of the second kind mentioned in paragraph 15, immediately before the outbreak of war, or after war has begun, the Sub-Committee think it desirable to enact that all aircraft, coming from oversea,
shall pass through certain prescribed gaps in the coast-line, and having passed, shall alight immediately, being subsequently subject to such regulations as may be issued from time to time. This will provide a safeguard against both kinds of espionage mentioned in paragraph 15, and will also, to a certain extent, reduce the risk of attack by the dropping of explosives as a first act of war, since any foreign aircraft approaching the coast, outside the scheduled areas will be liable to have military measures taken against them. At any rate foreign aircraft will not be able, as they are at present, with impunity, to reconnoitre the positions they intend to attack, which the Sub-Committee are informed is considered an important condition to ensure
success.
Explanation of the proposed Bill to amend “The Aerial Navigation Act, 1911.” (Schedule I to this Report.)
2k. In order to obtain the powers enumerated above, a draft of a very short Bill to amend "The Aerial Navigation Act, 1911," has been prepared by parliamentary counsel on the recommendation of the Sub-Committee, and is printed in Schedule I to this Report.
25. The first part of clause 1 of this Bill is designed to extend the powers of a Secretary of State to regulate aircraft, which are at present limited to the protection of the public from danger, to matters connected with the defence or safety of the realm, and specifies that the prescribed areas may include the whole or any part of the coast-line and the territorial waters adjacent thereto.
26. The actual areas which it is desired to prohibit immediately are given in Schedule III to this Report. In order not to place unnecessary or harassing restrictions on flight, these areas are as small in extent and as few in number as is compatible with national safety. The prohibited list includes dockyards, arsenals, and other places where it is desirable to prevent espionage, as well as magazines, wireless telegraph stations, and similar vulnerable points which might be injured by bombs being dropped on them A few dummy areas have been included in the prohibited list, in order to avoid indicating our really vulnerable points too exactly, and the list will require revision from time to time. It was considered preferable to indicate the exact places within three miles of which flying should be prohibited, even where these were in close proximity to one another, rather than to lay down large and comprehensive prohibited areas, as, if the latter course were adopted, all private flights over considerable tracts of country, including some of the principal aerodromes, would have been forbidden.
27. The second part of Clause 1 is intended to confer on a Secretary of State power to prescribe areas within which aircraft coming from abroad must alight, as well as conditions to be complied with by such aircraft.
28. A list of these areas is contained in Schedule IV to this Report, and a preliminary rough draft of the conditions to be complied with by aircraft coming from abroad in Schedule V to this Report. Foreign aircraft neglecting to pass through these areas or to alight as ordered will be liable to be fired on or to other military action until they comply with the instructions.
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