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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0012.PDF
JANUARY SND, 1941 British 'News—from AmericaW ITH the permission of the British Air Ministry we publish on pp. 10 and 16 of this issue the full text of the article which appeared in '' Flying and Popular Aviation" last November, and to which we called attention in Flight of December 12. At that time we had submitted the article to the Air Ministry and requested permission to publish it. The permission was refused. Now, some three weeks later, the article has been passed by the Air Ministry. No one regrets the original publication more than we do. It matters comparatively little whether the state- ments are correct or otherwise. What does matter is that it should have been possible for an American journalist not only to gather so much information, but to go home to the United States with his material and there to get it accepted and passed for publication. American journalists have—quite rightly—been given facilities equal to those extended to representatives of British newspapers and journals, and in some cases it seems that they have been allowed to learn a good deal more than was cither fair or prudent, even in view of the close co-operation of Great Britain and the United States. That being the case, it is understandable that other American journalists in London have taken strong exception to the publication of this article in the American journal. When a nation is fighting for its very existence, as Great Britain is at the present time, the honourable correspondent forgets his peacetime hunt for " scoops." Doubtless there are American writers in England who could, had they so wished, have got stories of this sort to America. It is to their credit that, with this one exception, they have refrained and have guarded the war secrets they have been permitted to share as carefully ard as loyally as have their British confreres. But once the mischief had been done, and it is im- possible to regard the original publication as other than mischievous, it is a little difficult to see the reason for delaying publication in this country for a month. . It there is no harm in re-publishing the article in January there could have been no harm in doing so in November. The War Qrows HotterP RESIDENT ROOSEVELT in his "fireside chat" on December 30 gave a grave warning to the people of the United States. Meantime, there are signs that the pace is being in- creased in the area of Northern Europe. The utter- ances by members of the War Cabinet about the dangers of an invasion of Britain have been followed by inten- sive bombing by the R.A.F. of the so-called invasion ports and the base at Lorient. At the same time, the Luftwaffe has been intensifying its night raids against British cities, taking important places in turn. Man- chester was the latest to be added to the list of sufferers, and on the night of December 29 there was another heavy attack on London. This German activity may be Hitler's attempt to re- duce the British pressure on Italy, or it may be a sign of the Fiihrer's increased impatience to end a war which has lasted longer than he had hoped it would. Night bombing is not calculated to produce either of these re- sults. The attack on shipping in the Atlantic is more serious, and that is where we chiefly miss the co-opera- tion of the French Navy, which did such good work in the early months of the war. But American help in every way is being hastened on, though it has not yet reached its zenith. Britain must hold out for a while longer on her own resources, but the President's speech gives welcome assurance that help will come in time. FOR COASTAL COMMAND, R.A.F. A batch of Lockheed Hudsons beii\g"prepafed for delivery to Great Britain. The cut-outnear the tailplane will have a Bouiton Paul power-operated gun turret fitted when the machines arrive in this country.
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