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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 3061.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN G. Managing Editor GEOTREY SMITH Chief PhotographerJOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams : Autocar Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (S lines). Home and Abroad : Year, £2 8 0. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). 260 DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester, Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. 6 months, £14 0. 3 months, 12s. Od. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. No. 1662. Vol. XXXVII!. OCTOBER 31, 1940 Thursdays, Price 9d. The Outlooks A Great FighterW HEN it becomes possible to view the first year of the war in perspective it will be found that Fighter Command of the R.A.F. has done in- credible work in the defence of the country. That is not to say that the ground defences have not also played their part, nor that Bomber Command has not rendered equally vital service by striking at tire enemy in his own country and in the countries overrun by him. But it was to Fighter Command that fell the task of defending London and our provincial cities during the early part of the German air offensive, and it is to Fighter Command that we owe the failure of Germany to terrorise these cities. Truly, as Mr. Churchill said in his memorable speech, " Rarely have so many owed so much to so few." The R.A.F. would be the first to admit that much of its success has- been due to the excellence of the aircraft and engines with, which it is equipped. And among the fighters the Hawker Hurricane has the distinction not only of having brought down more enemy aeroplanes than any other type (the figure is believed to be well over 1,500 confirmed victories) but of having borne the brunt of the battle during the earlier stages of the war. It is continuing its good work now. It was the Hurricane which was sent to France, where il had to operate from all sorts of aerodromes, spend most of its time in the open, and where it had to be maintained in the field with few facilities available. A less sturdy machine would have spent so much time on the ground that its effectiveness would have been seriously reduced. Nor were the activities abroad of the Hurricane con- fined to France and Belgium. It saw service, if only for a brief period, as far north as Nonvay, and recently its sphere has been extended to even more distant theatres of operation. Throughout, its record has been one of complete satisfaction, and we have thought that many of our readers would be interested in the detailed account of its birth and evolution which we publish this week. The Hurricane has proved itself one of the world's greatest fighters. Higher and HigherT HE fact that recently some of our fighters have, rather unexpectedly, encountered German aero- planes at 37,000 ft. or more reminds us that, quite early in the war, Flight called attention to the fact that it would be well not to overlook the possibility that, sooner or later,. Germany might make military use of the vast amount of altitude research work she carried out during the years preceding the war. It is a character- istic of the German mind that it thinks at once of possible military applications of any new invention, and it is scarcely to be expected that she would fail to see the enormous advantages which would fall to her were she to be able to produce aircraft capable of flying at heights well above the ceiling of our types and, of course, far above the effective range of anti-aircraft guns. There is no evidence as yet that new German types, with two-stage or possibly multi-stage superchargers, are in service, but it behoves us to bear in mind the possi- bility that they may be on the way, and to see to it that we are not caught napping. Before the war a small number of high-altitude com- mercial aeroplanes were being built, but one must assume that work on them has been stopped. Ii would be a mistake if all work on so-called stratosphere re- search had shared that fate, and we hope this is far from being the case.
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