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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0130.PDF
65 FLIGHT. JANUARY 17, 1935. AIR OPERATIONS AT SEA Relative Efficiency of Ship-borne and Shore-based Aircraft : Points from a Royal United Service Institution Lecture IN the course of a lecture given before the Royal United Service Institution on January 9, entitled, "Some Aspects of Air Operations at Sea," Com. R. N. Ellis, R.N., pointed out in the first place that the organisa tion of the Fleet Air Arm had not as yet stood the test of war. He then enlarged on the main differences be tween ship-borne and shore-based aircraft. Their problems were, he said, very different indeed. As regards the influence either could exert on a naval action, the ship-borne aircraft could start their opera tions in the vicinity of the action, as they were brought to the scene of that action by carriers, whereas the shore- based aircraft were limited in their range of action; there were, therefore, obviously likely to be many actions at sea which they could not reach. Generally speaking, ship- borne aircraft were smaller and carried smaller loads than shore-based aircraft, owing to the limitations imposed on them by virtue of their having to operate from and be housed in a carrier, whereas the shore-based craft not only allowed the designer greater scope but provided a far greater concentration of force. Com. Ellis pointed out that this fact has been seized upon by the daily Press, who suggested that ship-borne aircraft were therefore of little value, whereas the truth undoubtedly lay somewhere between the two cases. Cumulative Damage Dealing with the effect of numbers in a Fleet action. Com. Ellis said that an increase in the number of the air craft taking part produced an increase in the effective damage they could inflict which was proportionally greater than the actual increase in the numbers of the air craft. He pointed out that rapid successive attacks by several squadrons would have the effect of cumulative damage to enemy ships, in so much as the repair parties in those ships would not have time to do their work be tween the attacks, and that the damage inflicted by the final attack would have a far greater effect than the damage of the earlier attacks. Turning to the question of gaining air superiority, which he stressed as one of great importance, he pointed out the necessity for early tactical action either (a) by means of damaging the enemy carriers so that their aircraft would be ineffective, or (b) by means of fighter attacks on the enemy reconnaissance machines, which would not only pre vent them making offensive torpedo or bombing attacks, but at the same time deprive them of their reconnoitring powers. He also explained how the number of aircraft required to search an area adequately increased enor mously when the area itself was enlarged. As an example, • he quoted the case of an area 130 miles by 80 miles which would take five hours to search, with an expenditure of 60 aircraft flying hours, whereas one of 260 miles by 180 miles would take a total time of 34 hours to search, with an expenditure of 265 aircraft flying hours. He also quoted the following table as showing the comparative strength of aircraft for naval use of the five chief nations: — Operational— Fleet-borne Coast-based Training .. Great Britain. 1 1 1 * United States. 2.0 2-75 4-5 France. S3 2.25 1 (about) Italy. 3-5 1.0 Japan. i-3 2.85 2.8 The above are relative figures, taking Great Britain's totals as unity. On the subject of gunnery spotting from the air, the lecturer pointed out that great strides had been achieved in development of recent years, but that it was always extremely difficult in conditions of bad visibility, although, perhaps, less so for aircraft than for surface ships. A case where aircraft definitely could spot more efficiently than a surface ship was when the target was end on. Com. Ellis also had a good deal to say on the question of the defence of mercantile shipping against air attack, and he felt that one could not rule out the possibility of indiscriminate air attack by an enemy against defence less shipping, although this would be against all the accepted rules of warfare. He did not think that a cruiser which carried aircraft would be more successful against a single enemy raider, because of that aircraft, than would a cruiser without an aircraft, and that for strategical reasons several cruisers would still be necessary to round up a single raider. In the course of the discussion Capt. E. Altham, R.N., Secretary of the R.U.S.I., drew attention to the possi bility of arming "seadromes" if these were established, and using them as bases for sea-going aircraft. Rear Admiral C. E. Kennedy-Purvis, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, drew attention to the fact that visi bility from the air was seldom greater and often less than that from surface ships, and also to the difficulty of accurate navigation in the air when out of touch with the carrier. Both these difficulties he pointed out as being most important when discussing air operations at sea. He also said that modern high-angle gunnery develop ment had been very great, both for short and long ranges, and that this fact had to be taken into account when estimating the possible damage of attacks from the air. In the case of dive bombing, he said, the machines were virtually flying down the muzzles of the guns. Construc tional safeguards against damage of capital ships had also been developed very highly. In conclusion. Rear Admiral Kennedy-Purvis said— and he did so very forcibly—that all the problems of the air at sea were essentially the problems of Naval tactics, and entirely different from those of shore-based aircraft, and for that reason were far better studied and dealt with by Naval Officers than by others. ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY LECTURE On Friday, February 8th, Mr W. C. Clothier, M.Sc., will lecture on " fee Formation in Carburetters and Induction Sys tems," and wil! illustrate his lecture with a number of slides. Briefly, the paper will deal with the causes of ice formation and the atmospheric conditions likely to promote freezing, and the prevention of ice formation. The lecture will be held at 6.30 p.m. at the Institution -of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, Victoria Embankment. WOMEN'S ENGINEERING SOCIETY DEBATES A series of unusual debates on subjects of aeronautical interest has been arranged by the Women's Engineering Society, and will be held at 20, Regent Street, London, S.W.i, at 6.30 p.m. on January 22, February 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, and April 9. For the opening debate of the series, Mrs. Mollison, the President of the Society, is proposing "that record-break ing flights no longer serve a useful purpose " ; the motion will be opposed by Mr. J. A. Mollison. Season tickets at 5s. for members, and 7s. 6d. for non- members, or is. and is. 6d. respectively for single meetings, can be obtained from the Secretary of the Society at the above address.
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