FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0314.PDF
FEBRUARY 6TH, 1941. WAR IN THE AIR (Continued) Jan. 26 27 , 26 ,, 29 ., 30 ,. 31 Feb. 1 AIR GERMAN Aircraft 1 12 — 4 LOSSES TO FEBRUARY 1. , BRITISH , Aircraft Pilots _ — .. — — —. — — ~0 0 , — MIDDLE Enemy Aircraft 6 — 17 2 1 72 ~35 EAST , British Aircraft 1 — 1 2 No British bombers were lose daring the week. - German losses by R.A.F. and ground defences in Northern Area. 4.208. R.A.F. aircraft lost in Northern Area, 1,714. In the Middle East the R.A.F. have destroyed about 749 enemy aircraft and have lost 91. Bad news comes thick and fast to Signor Mussolini. Hardon the heels of the messenger who brought the tidings of the fall of Derna (supposing that it was a messenger andnot a telephone call) came another to tell that the Indian division had captured Agordat, in Eritrea. It can hardlyhave been a surprise, for the Italian troops on that front have been resolutely retreating for some time past. Thetidings cannot have been any the sweeter for that. The town is an important railway centre, lying on hills somei,8ooft. high. From there the railway line descends to Asmara, the capital of the colony, and to the port ofMassawa. Our troops thus command the main line of communications in tha country. The other British columnin Eritrea is nearing the town of Barentu, to the south. Eritrea lies along the north-eastern border of Abyssinia,and the news of the British advance must have spread like wildfire through that country ; in fact, many Abyssiniansmay well have witnessed some of the fighting. Their exultation can be imagined. Help from the Bombers A T Derna the Italians put up a rather stouter fight than•^ their comrades had done at either Bardia or Tobruk. The reason given for that is that the men of the Derna garri-son had not before been in action against the British and did not know beforehand what grand fighters they hadagainst them. The Australians naturally suffered some casualties, and so did the other British troops, but thevictory was very complete. One Australian soldier has told a Press correspondentof an attack which his regiment was making on an aero- drome lately. The place was strongly held with gunswhich outranged the light weapons which the Australians had with them. Consequently their advance was slow.Presently, to their delight, some R.A.F. bombers flew over and dropped bombs on the defences. That threw up g,lot of dust and drove the gunners to cover for a while, and before the dust had died down the Australians had rushedforward for a considerable distance. When they got close the Italians evacuated the aerodrome and retired. It was a small incident, but showed how useful bombers can be in a land battle when there is no chance of bringing up artillery in time. British mechanised forces lost no time in pressing on to the west of Derna. That town "divides the desert from the sown." It is itself a pleasant spot, with palms and other vegetation growing, and to the west of it the country is no longer mere sand. Our troops will appreciate that, even though the broken nature of the land is said to favour defence. In Albania the Greeks have been pressing cautiously for- ward, and by the time these words are published the Italians may have evacuated the town of Tepelini. The R.A.F. have been raiding Valona again, and a Greek sub- marine has sunk a substantial Italian transport off Brin- disi. One must admire the modesty of the official Greek communiques. They never err on the side of exaggeration-^ and usually it turns out that the troops have done more than the communiques have claimed. That is not the way of the Axis official statements. Raiding Invasion Ports T"YESPITE the unfavourable weather of late, the R.A.F.-*-^ Bomber Command has contrived to do some raiding. Wilhelmshaven and Brest have been raided again by night,and Boulogne and Ostend before dawn. Naturally, at this time, with so much talk in the air about an imminent inva-sion, attention has been concentrated on naval bases and ports from which the invasion might start. That is soundtactics. If the invasion were to succeed, it would not then matter whether the production of German munitions hadbeen delayed or not. There have also been more expedi- tions by British fighters over parts of Northern France. This war cannot be studied entirely from the air pointof view, for in British strategy all three Services must com- bine. A great deal of interest attaches to Hitler's attemptto make the Vichy Government conform to his will. Undoubtedly he hopes to get possession of the remains ofthe French fleet, and with it cut the British control of the western Mediterranean. If he had both Toulon and Bizertain his hands, he might cause us considerable inconvenience. The sinister figure of Laval is backing the German plans,but at the moment of writing the aged Marshal who is head of the Vichy Government has shown no signs of descend-ing to the infamy of allowing French warships and French naval bases to be used against the former Ally of France.It is also reported, and it bears the stamp of truth, that among the French people sympathy is growing for the fine,movement for which General de Gaulle stands. General Weygand has broadcast to the soldiers in FrenchAfrica asking them for blind trust. But those troops can feel little love for the Italians just across the frontier, whohave faced them for so long. They will have heard of the gallant exploit of the Free French Camel Corps fromChad, and they must have been stirred by it. SECOND EDITION OF "FLIGHT" HANDBOOK AS the first edition had completely sold out, and as manynew technical developments had occurred since it was written a comparatively short time ago, it was necessary tobring out a second edition of the popular " Flight Handbook." This book, which is written by Mr. W. O. Manning and theTechnical Staff of Flight, compresses within its' conveniently small size a wealth of information on nearly every technicalaspect of aeronautics, certainly every one of those which in- terests •' the ordinary individual who wishes to obtain a work-ing knowledge of this most complex of engineering sciences, but without recourse to a study of mathematics or other scien-tific knowledge.' This phrase is an extract from the foieword written by Mr. Griffith Brewer, president of the Royal Aero-nautical Society, who also writes, "It is not a textbook on aerodynamics or structuies, but it does serve as an introduc-tion to a more advanced study of the science of flight by giving general ideas about all problems connected with avia-tion." The second edition has been completely revised and en-larged by 37 pages so as to include such modern developments as the terrain clearance indicator, ducted cooling, shaft drive,geodetic construction, nosewheels, barrage balloons, feathering airscrews, artificial horizon, exhaust gas analyser, automaticpilot, instrument landing systems, plastics and pressure cabins. The chapters contained in the Handbook have theheadings: First Principles, Aerodynamics, Aircraft Structure?, Gliders, Balloons and Airships, Airscrews, Instruments, and anew chapter has been added on Modern Developments. In addition to the numerous diagrams and photographs withwhich it is illustrated, there are four special double-page con- structional draw ings of modern civil and military .ircrafi,including the now world-famous Spitfire. This handy-size book—it will go in the pocket for a railway journey—has 84pages and is obtainable at most bookshops at the reasonable price of 4s. It may also be obtained from Flight, Dorset House,Stamford Street, London, S.E.i, for 4s. 5d. posted.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
