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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0309.PDF
1 ana AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED 1909 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 (35 lines). 8-10, CORPORATION ST.. C OVE N TRY. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone • Midland 2 97 1 (5 lines). 2S0, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTbR, 3. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST. GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION Home and Abroad : Year, £2 8 0. 6 months, £14 0. 3 months, 12s. Od. RATES ; Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. No. 1676. Vol. XXXIX. FEBRUARY 6th, 1941. Thursdays, Price 9d. The Outlook. Combing Their TailsM ANY people may have been puzzled by a typical Churchillian remark in the Prime Minister's recent speech to the House of Commons. Deal- ing with man-power, Mr. Churchill said that he had thought for some time that the Army and the Air Force (the Navy not so much) had a great need to what he would venture to call comb their tails in order to magnify their teeth. Everyone has learnt by now that it takes a consider- able number of men on the ground to keep one aircraft in the air, and certainly it would be very false economy •to cut down the numbers of essential tradesmen. Nor is much saving possible in such trades as batmen, cooks and butchers, and the like. Nevertheless, a definite economy in man-power is always taking place in the R-A.F. as its organisation develops. The expansion of the Air Force has led to the con- struction of many new aerodromes, and the hurried evacuation of the squadrons from France accentuated the temporary strain on R.A.F. organisation at home. When a new station is opened it is necessary to ensure that the number of ground men is not under-estimated, and therefore it will at first probably be over-estimated. As things settle down the precise number required be- comes clear, and any surplus is then transferred. The growing efficiency of the Air Force will also result in a saving of men without any particular effort at tail- combing. Not only are new squadrons being formed, but the policy is to increase the number of machines per squadron. That, of course, does not lead to an increase in headquarters staff, as happens when a new unit is formed, and sD more machines are put into the air with- out a corresponding increase in the number of men. The introduction of larger bombers will have the same effect. If one says, for example, that a two-engined bomber ill carry one ton of bombs while a four-engined machine will carry five tons, then to drop those five tons on Germany would in one case call for ten fitters and in the other case for only four, with savings as well in riggers and aircraft hands. The S.A.A.F. Over AbyssiniaW HEN the Italians held all Libya and had pushed forward for a short distance into Egypt, it was possible for them to maintain a certain degree of communications by air with Abyssinia. It was not too easy, and implied flights, by night for thf most part, by long-range bombers, but it could be done. Now that the Italians have lost possession of all *heir aero- dromes to the east of Benghazi, besides losing large numbers of their aircraft, it is doubtful whether any air contact with Abyssinia is at all possible. At any rate, reinforcement on a large scale of the contingents of the Regia Aeronantica in the conquered country must be out of the question. This fact gives additional value to the series of raids which the South African Air Force has been undertaking against the aerodromes and other places in Ethiopia. Every Italian machine there which is bombed or machine-gunned now is an irreplaceable loss to the enemy. The spectacle must also be a great encourage- ment to the Abyssinian patriots. They remember well the part played by the Italian Air Force in the invasion of their country, and the brutal use of mustard gas from the air, against which they had no sort ot protection. It must give intense pleasure to the people of the coun- try to see aircraft now fighting on their side and taking vengeance on the Force at whose hands they once suffered so cruelly. The South African airmen can get great satisfaction from their raids, for it is seldom the case that the destruc- tion of enemy aircraft on the ground has such a definite result in weakening the enemy.
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