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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1222.PDF
MAY 2QTH, 1941. THE PLACE OF THE DIVE-BOMBER (Continued) ANOTHER SCOUT-BOMBER : In the United States the dive-bomber is officially designated a scout-bomber. The illustrationshows the Douglas S.B.D.-l which, with Mks. II and III are in quantity production at Los Angeles. Fretted diving brakes are employed and the bomb is carried externally on an ejector arm. No other particulars are available. bombing alone will not secure victory, though shortage of aircraft (or of any other major weapon) may be disastrous. Naturally, when the B.E.F. had been evacuated from France last year, the Army demanded that the Air Force should supply it with dive-bombers, as, though they may not inflict many casualties, they had certainly played a notable part in the German successes. This was one of the subjects discussed by the General Staff and the Air Staff at the time when it was decided to form the Army Co-operation command. Of course, the Army's demand had to be met, but the Air Staff decided not to concentrate on a highly specialised dive-bomber, like the Ju 87, which would be of no practical use when the Army was only standing on guard, as it has been in Great Britain ever since Dunkerque. The idea was preferred of a dual- purpose bomber, which could be used for ordinary bombing work in between times, but was capable of diving steeply when required What British designers are doing about this is not for public consumption, but the announcement about, the Vengeance is very interesting. That machine will be of the nature of a fighter-dive-bomber. The Navy possesses fighter-dive-bombers in the now obsolescent Skua and Roc two-seaters, but neither of them approaches the speed of the Vengeance. The Fleet Air Arm is often obliged to adopt dual-purpose types because of the limitations of space in a carrier, but such considerations do not apply to an aircraft for Army use. To some extent it appears as if we are going back to the practice of 1918 and will usefighters for attacking ground troops. There are, however, obvious differences between the two cases. In 1918 thefighters were mainly used to delay the advance of attacking infantry and, as mentioned above, their weapon was themachine-gun. In the present war the function of a dive- bomber is to assail defending troops, and its main weaponis the bomb. The speed and the armament of the Vengeance will mean that it will never be so much coldmeat to the Messerschmitts, as the Ju 87 has been to the Hurricanes. It is possible, in fact, probable, thatsquadrons equipped with the Vengeance (and there are other American dive-bombers, to wit, the Curtiss-WrightXSB2C-1) will be kept in two classes, one class for fighting, and the other for dive-bombing. That would avoid the riskof leaving the upper air insufficiently defended while a way is being cleared for the advance of Army troops. Itmay be assumed that if gallant Poles and Frenchmen were over-awed by the attacks of dive-bombers, German soldiepwill be equally impressed. -» vCombination of Weapons In flie debate on the war in the House of Commons on May 6 Mr. Hore-Belisha urged that '' as much attention ought to be devoted to the production of tanks as of aero- planes " This ex-Secretary for War has evidently grasped the need for the combination of weapons in a land war. He might perhaps have added that if it is correct, as many authorities believe, that Germany must finally be defeated on land, it is necessary to give as much atten- tion to the production of Army air- craft as of heavy bombers for independent air action. The Ger- mans have always employed dive- bombers in great numbers, and we must be prepared to do the same. DIVE OR PRECISION: The JunkersJu88 was originally designed as a high speed precision bomber and has beenmodified for use as a dive-bomber. Maximum speed with air brakes is340 m.p.h. and 419 m.p.h. without air brakes.
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