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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1212.PDF
Flight, October 31* 19lt. BMGISTE&Fl? Fint Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Utter t STANLEY SPOONKR. A Jmmmml AmrM»A t» the Interest*, Pr»etic«, and Progresa of Aerial Locomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 514. (No. 44, Vol. X.) OCTOBER 31, 1918. reefcly. Price 64.POM Free, 7<L and The Airtrafl Engin«»r. KJittrial Office: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. ». Telegram*: Trnditur, Wwtccot, London. Telephone: G«rrard i8»J. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free: United Kingdom .. its. md. 'Abroad 33s. od. These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary under war conditions. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: PAGE The German Defeat in the Air .. .. .. .. .... .. 1213 The Threat to Germany .. . ,. H14 Germany and the Future of the Air.. .. .. .. .. .. 1216 The Madness of Trades Unions .. .. .. .. .. .. 1216 The 200 h.p. Austro-Daimfer Aero Engine .. 1217 The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices .. .. .. .. .. 1223 The Roll of Honour .. .. .. .. .. .. 1224 The Austrian Berg Single-Seater 12*5 Airisms from the Four Winds .. .. .. .. .. .. ,. 1228 Personals . 1231 Aviation in Parliament .. ., .. . 1232 Steel Tubes, Tube Manipulation, and Tubular Structures for Aircraft. By W. W. Hackett and A. G. Hackett 1233 The Royal Air Force 1236 Aircraft Work at the Front. Official Information 1238 Side Winds .. .. .. .. .. ,. .. .. .. .. 1240 Company Matters .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. H40 EDITORIAL COMMENT. " Newspaper* are an euential part of our war organisation." (Sir Auckland Gtddes, Minister of National Service.) "OW far the defeat of Germany in the air has conduced to the appeal for the cessation of hostilities we cannot fully appreciate as yet, but it is certain that it has been responsible in no small measure for the difference of tone between now and the opening of the great enemy offensive in March. At that period we had not really established any marked superiority in the air. We had held our own, and even at times we had been The German superior in fighting strength but our irffthe superiority was always in the balance, Air and as we know, was liable to be reversed as the fruits of new enemy programmes began to be seen: The shortage of material had not made itself decisively felt on the German construction programme, while our own advantages of both material and personnel had not become completely effective. When, however, the great enemy drives towards Paris - and the coast ports had been definitely stopped, these factors began to exercise their full influence. It is beyond doubt that Germany made her last effort during the winter to amass a sufficient superiority of men and material to make possible the ultimate bid for victory. It was all or nothing. She realised to the full that on the fall of the dice depended the fate of the war and she strained every nerve and every resource to ensure that they should fall as she desired. How nearly she came to consummating her object we do not, possibly, know yet. But as we know she failed and the effort left her exhausted as to resources, while our own were only beginning to be fully availed of, and the result has been seen during the past three months, in which we have seen a complete reversal of the military position. In order to appreciate the character of the air fighting during that period it is only necessary to glance at the official record of the numbers of enemy aircraft destroyed on the British Western front. In June 293 German machines were destroyed and 124 driven down out of control, at a cost of 108 British machines missing. In July we destroyed 294 and drove down 82, with a loss of 131 machines. During August our airmen destroyed 467 and drove down 194 German aeroplanes, while we lost 193. The figures for September were 389 German machines destroyed and 159 driven down, our own tale of missing being 236. The totals for the four months, then, are : enemy machines destroyed, 1,443 ; driven down out of control, 558; British machines missing: 668. Thus we see that the British R.A.F. alone accounted for some 2,000 enemy machines. In addition to these, units of the Independent Air Force and the coastal squadrons destroyed a further number of German aircraft, and the French and American air forces inflicted severe losses. What these amounted to we cannot say, but they certainly must have been a substantial addition to the casualty bill. The effect was seen in the middle of August, when the enemy adopted the new tactics of defence in large formations at selected points and almost abandoned offensive action. It is clear that this was forced upon him by the strain imposed on his resources by the,, heavy drain on material and trained personnel. Whatever the sum total of his losses may have been, the important point is that he was losing machines and pilots at a much faster rate than he could replace them.
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