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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0066.PDF
22 JANUARY 9TH, 1941. mastery in the air after the battle of Caporetto. Then the K.F.C. went to the help of the Italians, and Camels and Bristol Fighters speedily reversed the position. One ought, however, to be fair to the Italian pilots. The Hurricane squadron which first tackled the Italians over the Thames Estuary reported that the Italian pilots showed fight in a way that Germans never had shown it against that particular squadron. The inferiority of the Italian machines made that pluck unavailing. We may take it that the arrival of German airmen in Italy will mean more raids on Greek towns; it will not make any difference to the night raids of the R.A.F. on Italian bases. Moreover, Air Vice-Marshal D'Albiac has announced that the R.A.F. in Greece will soon be reinforced. Weather—or NoL ITTLE attention has been paid, in this country, to the significance of the capture, by a Norwegian patrol boat, of a German meteorological expedition fifty strong which was attempting to establish a weather- reporting station in Greenland. Yet the incident showed how badly Germany is in need of meteorological information from the western hemisphere. Since the cessation of weather reports and weather forecasts (you remember the "deep depressions over Iceland " ?), not only British radio listeners but the German Luftwaffe have been deprived of information about weather in the northern latitudes. The attempted landing of the party in Greenland shows how desper- ately the enemy is in need of reports. Our very excel- lent American contemporary, U.S. Air Services maga- zine, points out that " If Hitler had kept out of Den- mark he might still be getting Iceland weather reports. Now (and probably for some time to come) Iceland is part of the British hegemony—all because Der Fiihrer had to help himself to Denmark." Germany's little Greenland scheme was frustrated by the vigilance of the Norwegian patrol boat, but, as our contemporary points out. Hitler is still getting weather reports from the American Naval station at Arlington, Virginia, whence reports are broadcast regularly in inter- national code. " And does Berlin want it! " our Ameri- can contemporary says. "Does a hungry hound want a bone ? The Arlington broadcast tells Mr. Hitler all about the current weather in the United States, the West Indies, and the North Atlantic Ocean (so far, at least, as our own very assiduous weather service knows what it is), and shoots it to him right through the British blockade four times a day." Bombs on EireI T is very probable that the bombs which have been dropped at a few points in the neutral State of Eire were of the nature of a red herring. The British authorities are now all keyed up by the possibility of a German attempt to invade Great Britain, but they are well aware that German propaganda may have started this rumour with the idea of preventing Britain frorA sending reinforcements to the Mediterranean front. In order to increase what the enemy would call British nervousness it would be quite natural for him to send reconnaissance aircraft over the neighbouring island. But aircraft flying over by night might escape observa- tion, and in that case the stimulant to British nerves would have missed the mark. To avoid that possibility it would be as well to announce the presence of the intruders by dropping a few bombs, which could not be disregarded. That the bombs might kill a few Irish neutrals would naturally be a consideration of no account. MEDITERRANEAN MASTERY : A Short Sunderland on patrol over the Grecian Archipelago The Sunderland with its four1,000 h.p. Bristol Pegasus XXII engines has done valuable work from the North Cape to Alexandria.
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