FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1767.PDF
AUGUST 7TH, 1941. FLIGHT 73 in Sicilian Air Bases Bombed : The Moscow Raids : Stukas at Tobruk UNHAPPY LANDING : The efficiency of the Russian Air Force has been a surprise to many, including, one imagines, theLuftwaffe. Here is the wreck of a Ju 88 which fell to the guns of a Red airman. IN our last issue a raid on Londonwas briefly mentioned. It fol-lowed (and one is inclined to argue post hoc, ergo propter hoc) a raid by the R.A.F. on Berlin a few nights be- fore. Not many British bombers were sent there, but the raid marked the gradual increase in the hours of dark- ness as the summer moves along. If*" the propter hoc argument is correct, it shows that the Germans are very sensitive to attacks on their Capital, and try to warn us off by means of retaliation. The R.A.F. will not be deterred from following its own objects by such means. There are many targets in Berlin which are worth des- troying, and they will be attacked whenever it suits the book of the Bomber Command to send machines against them. The German raid on London was also not on a very heavy scale, though there seemed to be plenty of engines droning overhead. Four of the raiders were shot down, and this is considered to be a satisfactory proportion. The night-bomber has not yet been de- feated, but its operations are growing more hazardous, and the time may come when losses are so heavy that the operation may be abandoned as not worth while, as the Germans have already abandoned day - bombingagainst Great Britain. The R.A.F., on the other hand, is quite preparedto undertake daylight bombing if the object justifies the losses which mustbe faced. The recent raids on Brest and La Pallice proved that. Thequestion arises as to which side would lose most if all night-bombing had tobe abandoned—but the time for that to come about is not imminent. Fine Middle East Work TX7HETHER it is good luck or good ' * management, the bombers in the Middle East Command have been suf- fering very slight casualties in their widespread operations. Not long ago R.A.F. machines made a brilliant attack on the aerodromes in Sicily, Catania, Syracuse (a seaplane basa), Marsala, and Borizzo near Trapani. Over thirty-four enemy machines of various types were destroyed, all of them Italian except for one Ju 52 troop-carrier at Catania. That looks as if the Stukas have left that base and moved elsewhere. Not a single R.A.F. machine was lost during this series of raids. It now seems a pity that this raid was not undertaken before the British convoy made its way through the Mediterranean with the loss of the destroyer Fearless and damage to a cruiser, another destroyer and one of the merchant ships, but it will now be desirable to discover the new lair of the Stukas and give it a similar hammering. Up to the moment of writing, the Russians have continued to hold the Germans, and the Red Air Fleet de- clines to admit any inferiority to the Luftwaffe. Its operations emphasise once again the absolute importance of providing an army with adequate sup- port from the air, and that means that troops and aircraft must be trained to work in unison. If the Russian air arm had been wiped out as thoroughly ap was that of the Poles in the first campaign of this war, it is inconceiv- able that the invaders could havi been held as they have been. The famous German tactics of carrying all before them by a combination of Panzer divi- sions and close-co-operation bombers, while other aircraft provided full in- formation about the dispositions of the enemy, have failed for the first time to bring swift success. There is a lesson in this which it is to be hoped that our High Command is studying with care. One does not know quite what to make of the reports of the German
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
