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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0248.PDF
86 A "Pep Pool"I N his lecture to the Royal Society of Arts last week Sir Alan Cobham dealt with technical and commer- cial aspects of his system of refuelling in flight. He was careful to point out that, although circumstances made it impossible for him to refer in detail to the mili- tary applications, these were obvious. There is at least one feature in which Mr. Pemberton- Billing's " Towlit" and Sir Alan's flight refuelling system share a common risk: the two aircraft have to make contact. It is not, of course, suggested that the towed fighter scheme is suitable for flight refuelling, since the duration of the fighter is short, and it is in any case desired to keep it ready with full tanks, but many other military applications come readily to mind in which the two systems have many points in common. We are not overlooking the fact that P. B.'s method of •" hooking-on " and that employed by Sir Alan Cobham differ not only in detail but in principle. Never- theless, the two systems have many problems which are similar if not quite identical. Sir Alan has had long practical experience, while P. B. (we say it without any intention of giving offence) is theorising. In normal times one would hesitate to suggest a pool- ing of ideas and experience, but these are not normal times, and consequently we risk incurring the wrath of all concerned by suggesting that the Air Ministry should set up a special small committee to thrash out the com- plicated problem of assisted take-off in all its aspects. Sir Alan Cobham and Major Mayo (with Short Brothers) have both had practical and successful experience. Mr. Pemberton-Billing has many new ideas, not all of which have been published. There are other designers and inventors with schemes of their own, not forgetting the catapult experts. That heavily.loaded long-range aircraft types will have to be adopted is certain, so why not get together all the accumulated experience that exists? After all, aircraft constructors have pooled their data and experience for JANUARY 30TH, 1941. the common good. So why not an assisted take-off com- mittee, or what one might call a "Pep Pool"? Lysanders at TobrukS INCE the beginning of the war the great deeds of the Coastal Command, the Fighter Command, and the Bomber Command have been brought to the notice of the British public, while the Fleet Air Arm has won one of the greatest victories of the war. One branch of warlike air activity has not been much in the news until the other day, namely, the work of the Army co-operation squadrons. In the operations in France the squadrons of Westland Lysanders probably did more than was ever brought to public notice, though in that campaign their activities may well have been cir- cumscribed by the shortage of protecting fighters. But in the storm of Tobruk the Lysanders have certainly got into the news. Their daring work attracted the attention of the correspondents who watched the fight- ing, and has been mentioned with a good deal of emphasis both in influential daily papers and in a B.T&C. broadcast. ^^f When the artillery gets to work on the defences of a place which the Army is attacking, there is no longer any need for the intervention of bomber aircraft. The field guns and howitzers are the proper weapons for clearing the path for the tanks and the infantry, but the gunners must be told whether their shells are falling on the target on not. It is the duty of the Lysanders to give them this information. At Tobruk the Italian anti-aircraft guns were well manned and made the task of the Lysanders as difficult and dangerous as possible. One observer-pilot is said to have reported curtly that the "A.A. is damnable." None the less the pilots went into it and kept at their job until the British guns had silenced the opposition, with a gallantry which aroused the great admiration of all beholders. As a result the British losses in the assault were less than 500 men. Well done, Lysanders! .1 HERCULEAN POWER The Saro Lerwick with its two 1,300 h.p. Bristol Hercules engines is the fastest flying boat in servicewith the Coastal Command.
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