The Emerging Terror

Premonitions of disaster about flight and aerial attacks existed before humanity had even taken to the air. Pessimism about the impact potential of air warfare was duly proved during the First World War, when airship raids upon London and other cities provided dress rehearsals in history for later, larger bombing events. Between the wars, advances in airplane and bombing technology were and cruelly evidenced during the fascist air raids on Spain, and Japanese attacks on China, during the later 1930s. Focusing mostly but not exclusively upon Britain, this chapter highlights elite fears, expressed by leading military thinks, writers and politicians. It also examines official preparations for air raids during the interwar years. By the end of the 1930s, most people in Britain and across Europe were aware of or involved in in raid precautions. Fear that ‘the bomber will always get through’ was both a national and international phenomenon.