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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 1539.PDF
JUNE 27, 1935. FLIGHT. 687 powers of speedy climb are necessary in the day fighters, and great speed at high altitudes. Further news of the raid is sent by wireless to the fighter squadron after it is in the air, but the best help may come from the guns. If the sky is clear it is easier to spot aircraft from the ground than from the air, while if it is cloudy the sound-locators can direct the guns. By night the tactics are different. The fighters do not wait on the ground for orders to take off and attack a raid. Single machines are sent up on patrol at various levels in their own zones, in readiness for the arrival of a bomber. For this reason night fighters need a longer air endurance than is necessary for day fighters. The night fighters rely almost entirely on the searchlights. When three beams are seen concentrating on a certain spot, the nearest fighter flies up to investigate. In the ensuing fight all the odds should be on the side of the fighter, which attacks out of the darkness and should never present a targtt to the guns of the bomber. If the night bomber evades the searchlights and the fighters, it still has to face the dread chances of the balloon apron. A number of captive balloons are sent up with horizontal cables strung between them. From each of these cables other wires are hung. If an enemy aeroplane hits any of these wires or cables a crash is almost certain. The height to which the bal loons can be sent up is kept secret, and, of course, the position of the aprons can be changed every night. This unseen horror of the darkness is calculated to shake the nerves of the most intrepid invaders. A night raider, if his raid is to be completely successful, needs special conditions. He likes clouds to give him cover on his way in and out, but his target must be clearly visible. Not many nights in a year give abso- Groundwork : A searchlight of the Royal Engineers, Territorial Army. (Flight photograph.) The backbone of our day-and-night fighter equipment — the well-tried Bristol "Bulldogs," which have been used by the majority of fighter squad rons during the past few years. Flight photograph.) lutely ideal conditions for a night raid. Apart from the chances of casualties, it should be remembered that if the defence succeeds in driving either day bombers or night bombers away from their allotted objectives, the raids may be counted as failures. This point should be strongly stressed. Bombs which miss their targets are, as a rule, wasted. Guns may not hit many of the bombers, but by driving them up to great heights make their work more difficult, and if they cause a formation to break up they have done much to foil a raid. Attacks by fighters, even if they do not shoot many of the enemy down, score a point if they can break the enemy formation or drive the bombers off their course. Another point to bear in mind is that objectives which are far from the coast give a much better chance to the defence than do objec tives near the coast. It should bn easier to defend the Midlands and the North than it is to defend London. The last raid made on London was on Whit-Sunday, May 19, 1918, when between thirty and forty large bombers, mostly "Gothas," but at least two of them "Giants," came in a constant stream over Kent and Essex on the way to London. Our defensive night fighters were up in numbers, and twelve air combats took place. In these three "Gothas" were shot down, while others were probably badly shot about. At any rate, three more crashed completely when they landed in Belgium. The guns also made good shooting that night, and brought three of the raiders down. That accounted for nine, while a tenth had engine failure and landed in Essex. The raid certainly did a good deal of damage, but the enemy evi dently reckoned that a loss of about 30 per cent, was too high a price to pay, and they never came over London again. B
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