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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1252.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 8, 1932 <;,. *^£L«^HP * •^T^- jpi • ACCURACY : No. 25 F.S. in squadron formation with nights in line abreast. (FLIGHT Photo. have made such great advances since 1918 that war pre cedent is almost valueless. The fighters must always be devising tactical schemes for attacks on modern bombers, whether singly or in formation.. Interceptors are not, in my opinion, likely to be used for night fighting ; that would waste their peculiar merits. Their problem is to match themselves against the " Harts." A single " Hart " is quite a formidable adversary, and the fighters like (if possible) to have odds of 3 to 1. Then two " Furies " attack from above, one from the right and one from the left, while the flight lieutenant manoeuvres to get under the tail. Synchronisation of attack by all three gives the best chance of success, for then the gunner in the " Hart " is outnumbered. Another problem is for the whole squadron to attack a whole squadron of " Harts." The bombers have no initiative in the fight, except by hiding in clouds when possible. They must keep on their course in formation, trusting to the cross fire of their gunners to keep the fighters at a distance. The " Furies " have to devise means of diverting them from their course, and, if possible, breaking up the forma tion. It is a very pretty problem ; and few such fights are likely to end without bloodshed—or at least the use of parachutes. Fortunately, the " Fury " is a machine of exceptional parts. Its maximum speed at 15,000 ft. is 205 m.p.h. It carries 50 gallons of petrol and uses from 20 to 30 gallons an hour, according to the work it is doing, and its average endurance is reckoned as 1 hr. 50 min. Its land ing speed is remarkably low for such a fast fighter, and it has wheel brakes to pull it up. When squadrons first came to practise with the " Fury," they found that all their previous ideas of fighting tactics had to be revised. A certain length of dive had been sufficient in attack. That distance did not give the " Fury " pilot time to get his sights on to the enemy. The interceptor pilot has to start thinking several miles earlier than he used to do. The gunner in the day bomber will have to do likewise. Fortunately, if we have another war, we shall not find " Harts " in the enemy's ranks. The great daylight raid of 20 odd " Gothas " over London comes to mind. It was a stately procession, unhampered for all practical purposes by the defensive fighters of the day. That incident at least will never be repeated. In the War In the Great War No. 25 Squadron played a very gallant part. Its most sensational feat was the killing of the foremost German fighter pilot of the day, Max Immelmann. At the time of his death on June 18, 1916, just before the outbreak ol the Somme battles, Lt. Immelmann had been officially credited with the destruction of 16 Allied machines. He was one of the pilots of the Fokker mono plane which had wrought such destruction among our squadrons in 1915. The original Fokker manoeuvre was a dive from a height, and if that did not succeed in send ing the Allied machine down the Fokker would dive out of range before returning to the attack. Immelmann im proved on these tactics by discovering the climbing turn, which has been named after him, by which he regained height and attacking position without losing touch with his enemy. His death greatly depressed the German air service at the outset of the Somme, and it was not until near the end of that struggle that Oswald Boelcke, later succeeded by Manfred von Richthofen, succeeded in restoring German prestige in the air. The pilot of No. 25 Squadron who shot down Immelmann was 2nd Lt. C. R. McCubbin, and his observer (they were in a F.E.2.B) was Cpl. Waller. The story of the fight is as follows. Just before 8 p.m. on June 18, 1916, two F.E.'s of No. 25 went up on patrol together from Auchel Aerodrome. McCubbin was pilot of one and 2nd Lt. J. R. B. Savage of the other. About 9 p.m. they saw three Fokkers over the lines and attacked them. One flew away, while the other two made towards Lens, followed by the two F.E.'s. Immelmann thereupon attacked Savage and chased him down, hitting him with mortal effect, while the observer, 2nd A.M. T. Robinson, was slightly wounded and was taken prisoner. McCubbin followed the Fokker down and fired at it. It turned away from Savage and dived straight into the ground. Of course, the personality of the Fokker pilot was not known until afterwards. McCubbin was himself wounded eight days later, but he had done a service which greatly helped the British forces during the Somme battle when our aeroplanes had matters all their own way, and the German flying corps was at its lowest stage of efficiency, No. 25 Squadron was formed at Montrose as a train ing squadron on September 25, 1915, the day of the battle of Loos. Its first CO. was Maj. F. V. Holt, D.S.O., who afterwards rose to be Air Vice-Marshal and com manded the Fighting Area, when he was killed by a collision in the air. In December of the same year the squadron moved to Thetford in Norfolk, and began to equip with the F.E.2.B two-seater pusher fighter, with 160-h.p. Beard- more engine. On February 20, 1916 it flew from Folke stone (possibly from its future aerodrome of Hawkinge) to St. Omer, and soon after began its work as a fighter squadron on the Western front. On April 1 it moved to Auchel Aerodrome, and became part of the 10th Wing in the 1st Brigade, R.F.C., operating with the 1st Army. Before that, however, Maj. Holt had left to take com mand of the Home Defence Wing. Maj. Carthew com manded for a few days until on March 15 Maj. R. G. Cherry took over the command. The early work of No. 25 Squadron was patrols to protect 1166
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