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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1701.PDF
andAIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE W>RLD ; FOUNDED WOO Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines). 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone : Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM. 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Canada : Other Countries : Year, £2 6 0. Year, £2 9 0. 6 months, £13 0. 6 months, £14 6. 3 months, I Is. 6d. 3 months, 12s. 3d. No. 1642. Vol. XXXVII. JUNE 13, 1940 Thursdays, Price 9d The Outlooks Victoria Crosses - -T HE first Victoria Crossof this war has been won by the Navy, and was a posthumous award to Capt. Warburton-Lee of Narvik fame. The second and third have gone to the R.A.F. and have been awarded to an officer and an airman who have been posted as missing. Flying Officer D. E. Garland and Sergt. T. Gray were the leaders of that heroic band of five bombers who destroyed the fatal bridge over the Albert Canal near Maastricht. It ought to have been destroyed when the Germans first invaded Belgium, and the fact that it was not blown up upset the whole Allied scheme for the defence of the Low Countries. That bridge, shared with the insufficient preparation behind Longwy the respon- sibility for the surrounding of Gen. Blanchard's northern group of Armies and the ultimate need to evacuate the B.E.F. and French and Belgian troops from Dunkerque. Even after the horse had gone it was thought necessary to shut that stable door. A squadron of the R.A.F. was given the job. It is not the custom of the R.A.F. to call for volun- teers ; in fact the Service was quite contemptuous when it was found that the raiders of the Forth last October were volunteers from various German squadrons. But the risks attending an attack on this bridge were special, and in this case the Squadron CO. thought it right to call for volunteers. Every pilot and air crew in the squadron responded, and lots were drawn to decide the five crews. F/O. Garland led the formation and Sergt, Gray was his observer and bomb-aimer. The bridge was destroyed, and one pilot brought his machine back with his observer dead. Somewhat hastily, the sole survivor was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, but subsequent consideration has brought conviction that this deed of desperate self- sacrifice was of the order of heroism for which the proper reward is the Victoria Cross. Had there been many sur- vivors, no doubt they would have been asked to vote among themselves for one officer and one airman to receive that honour. As things were, the two men in the leading machine have been selected. In honouring them the intention is to honour the whole party, and so, no doubt, the award will be regarded by the survivor and by the relations of those who have not returned. Square PegsO NE of the ways in which we prided ourselves that we were waging this war more intelligently than the last war was in arranging for men to do that work by which they could best help the national effort. In the last war we suffered not a little through per-; mitting men who had special qualifications for higher work to enlist as private soldiers and to be killed in the trenches. We seem to remember that a certain Lieut.-, Col. W. S. Churchill had a narrow escape from a shell. No doubt we are arranging things somewhat better now with our reserved occupations and similar pro- visions ; but when raising vast numbers of fighting men it is inevitable that some square pegs should get into round holes. One reason was that in the first months of the war the Navy and the Air Force had long wait- ing lists, and some men who would have been useful to those Services were called up in their age groups and handed over to the Army. Another cause was the praiseworthy desire of ardent spirits to get into the fir- ing line although they would have been more useful in a mechanical job. Not long ago a question was asked in Parliament about a driver in the R.A.S.C. who was alleged to be a qualified aircraft fitter urgently required by the Blackburn company. The reply was that the Army had great need of fitters and did not propose to part with any that it had. We know ourselves of an even stronger case, namely, an aeronautical ground engi- neer with "A," "C" and "X" licences, who is in the Army and has applied without success for transfer to the Air Force. The Army's need for skilled mechanics cannot be
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