The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry. Duncan Sandys, the recently appointed Minister of Defence, produced the paper.
The decisions were influenced by two major factors: the finances of the country and the coming of the missile age. Where before combat in the air would have been between aircraft; high flying bombers carrying nuclear weapons and fast interceptor fighter aircraft trying to stop them, now the guided missile, particularly the surface-to-air missile threatened all aircraft. The emergent space age showed that missiles could also deliver those nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.
Famous quotes containing the words white paper, defence, white and/or paper:
“Let us then suppose the Mind to be, as we say, white Paper, void of all Characters, without any Ideas; How comes it to be furnished...? To this I answer, in one word, From Experience: In that, all our Knowledge is founded; and from that it ultimately derives it self.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“There can be no defence like elaborate courtesy.”
—E.V. (Edward Verrall)
“Slow, slow, as a fish she came,
Slow as a fish coming forward,
Swaying in a long wave;
Her skirts not touching a leaf,
Her white arms reaching towards me.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)
“They come on to my clean
sheet of paper and leave a Rorschach blot.
They do not do this to be mean,
they do it to give me a sign....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)