ABSTRACT
The air menaces were relatively straightforward forms of air panic. Air raid precautions (ARP) was rarely mentioned during the air menace panics. Some responses to the German air menace focused on the preparations of the British government itself. Press and other responses to the German air menace were largely divided along political lines. The threat believed to be posed by the German air menace naturally depended upon the theories of aerial warfare prevalent at the time. In 1913, the concept of the knock-out blow was as yet embryonic, and so a quick collapse of British resistance in wartime was not widely feared. Liberal newspapers were generally supportive of the Liberal government and its attempts to control British airspace through the Aerial Navigation Act (1913). This is to be expected in 1913, before aerial bombardment had actually been experienced by the British and before the development of the knock-out blow concept increased the expected losses from air attack.
