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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0207.PDF
JANUARY 25, 1940. Equipment and Tactics for DIVE-BOMBING Specialised Aircraft : Diving Brakes : Heavy Bombs : The Human Element By H. F. KING INTEREST aroused by an article Germany's DiveBombers appearing in Flight of September 28 last yearsuggested a review of international practice in this form 01 attack with reference to the specialised aircraft required and the problems presented. Both the Spanisn and the Polish struggles demonstrated that dive-bombing has a very definite place in modern warfare. They established that diving attacks made with specially designed aircraft will give excellent results not only against small individual targets on land (e.g., build- ings, cross roads, railway junctions and " pill boxes ") but against moving objects like ships, tanks and mechanised columns. Previously dive-bombing with heavy projectiles, par- ticularly as fostered in America, was regarded as being chiefly of use against ships and it is significant that, despite the fact that several squadrons of the Luftwaffe are equipped with Junkers Ju 87 and Henschel Hs 123 dive- bombers, the great majority of American, British and French machines designed primarily for diving attacks operate from the decks of airciaft carriers. Reference has already been made in Flight to the exten- sive and successful employment of Ju 87s in Spain. They were introduced into the conflict early in 1938 and were used on the drive to the Mediterranean coast, during the fighting on the Ebro front and on the Catalonian offensive. They met with particular success in the final phase of the Spanish war when they bombed ports and ships on the Mediterranean coast. The havoc wrought in Valencia, Taragona and Barcelona was due chiefly to their activities. One pilot is said to have accounted, single-handed, for three large steamers off Taragona, each time securing a direct hit. In Poland, German dive-bombers, particularly the Hen- schel Hs 123 single-seater biplane, were used in close sup- port of the infantry. As already inferred, such aircraft give good results against tanks and other obstacles to ground forces. A study of the German Junkers Ju 87 two-seater dive-bombershowing how the single large bomb carried beneath the radiator is swung outboard before release. There are diving-brakes under the wings. A German Henschel Hs 123 single-seater dive-bomberreleases a salvo of four 50 kg. bombs Dive-bombing as we shall consider it entails the release of a bomb or bombs while an aircraft is diving steeply to- wards a target. Obviously there is only one point of re- lease for a given dive, for after leaving the aircraft the bomb will not follow a straight path. Special sights to facilitate aiming have been evolved but it is believed that these are not in general use. The speed of the dive increases the vertical velocity of the bomb so that its penetration is equivalent to that of a similar projectile released in level flight at a greater altitude. Although dive-bombing with bombs of 500 or '. ??
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