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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1577.PDF
-s.r,.-.v FIRST AERONAUTICAL AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Y IN THE W)RLD : 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 linei). 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 29 7 1 (5 lines). 260, DE A N SG A T £. MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW. C.2. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: No. 1699. Vol. XL Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 monthi, Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper. JULY 17th, 1941. £1 10 6. 3 monthi, I5i. 3d. Thursdays, One Shilling. The Outlooks IcelandT HE Prime Minister expressed great satisfaction the other day when he announced that forces of the United States had occupied Iceland. That satis- faction will be shared by the country in general, and not least by the aeronautical fraternity. Iceland can be a most important point in the Battle of the Atlantic, as both an air and a naval base. As Mr. Churchill reminded the House of Commons, supplies for the American forces will have to pass through very dan- gerous waters on their way to Iceland, in fact through the same waters as the leased and lent supplies for Great Britain. The Government of the United States does not want to see either class of stores sunk by German action, and will certainly keep a careful look-out over those waters. Mr. Churchill, in a passage of classic understatement, "dared to say that it might be found in practice mutually advantageous for the two navies involved to assist each other. ..." No doubt the air- craft of both the nations will also pass on any informa- tion which they may acquire on patrol On the whole we may take it that the presence of American forces in Iceland will considerably relieve the strain which the Battle of the Atlantic has imposed on the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The Americans had already taken the necessary measures in Greenland with the object of keeping the Germans from seizing a base so close to the American continent, from which they might some day have launched an invasion, and in the meantime could cer- tainly have interfered seriously with the supply of munitions to Great Britain. This northern route is now safe except for the depredations of U-boats and raids by Kurier aircraft. Most aircraft built in North America can be delivered by air to the British Isles, using Green- land and Iceland, and perhaps the Shetlands, as re- fuelling points for the smaller classes, such as fighters. The distance from Reykjavik to Lerwick is onfy about 700 miles. Delivery by air is most desirable, both to save shipping space and as the safest way of getting the machines across. In the landing of the Americans in Iceland we see yet another step in the co-operation ot the English-speaking democracies to withstand the Dictators. It is not without significance, in this connection, to recall that for a great many years before this war the —Germans took a very practical interest in the " northern route." Von Gronau surveyed it pretty thoroughly in a Dornier "Wai," and afterwards told the Royal Aero- nautical Society of his experiences. Nor is von Gronau the only German who has had a good look at Greenland and Iceland, even before the war, so that President Roos*evelt's decision to join forces with us in keeping the route safe for democracy, to use the phrase in a sense slightly different from the original, has about it a certain measure of poetic justice. The R.A.R Offensive I T is fortunate that recent deliveries of new and power-ful bombers have enabled the R.A.F to start aconcentrated offensive, by day as well as by night against targets in Germany and occupied territory, 'ust at the time when German effort is concentrated against Russia. Whether the British raids are likely to bring immediate relief to the Russian forces may be doubted, for the enemy must have piled up reserves of fuel and machines near the Russian frontier before starting the
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