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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1770.PDF
FLIGHT AUGUST 7TH, 1941. "TARGET FOR TO-NIGHT" Here is a Film that Everyone Should See , SHORT of impregnating the auditoriumwith the delicate odour of burnt lubricating oil, it would be difficult to imagine how a greater degree of realism could be provided by any film than is achieved by "Target for To-night." This is not propaganda in the sense usually implied by that overworked word; it is a faithful pictorial record of a typical night's work by the men of Bomber Command. It is dramatic and exciting, not because clever cinema tech- nique and skilled acting have used their best trick to "glorify" the R.A.F., but because it portrays, without frills and without studio romanticism, a phase of Britain's fight against German aggres- sion which is essentially dramatic and exciting. The cleverness of the producers of this film, in fact, lies in the very fact that they have not attempted to be clever, but have told the simple story in the most straightforward manner. Authentic There are no professional actors dressed in sky-blue uniforms; eveiy officer and man seen on the screen is a member of the R.A.F., and the camera- man made more than one trip over enemy territory, in a bomber, to get authentic raid pictures from the air so tli£»t the public might see for themselves just what our bomber crews have to face and what they so regularly achieve. It is safe to say that there has never before been a war film just like this one, but its value is such that one hopes others of similar integrity will follow. The picture begins with the dropping of a parcel of negatives from a reconnais- sance aircraft. These are hurried to the darkroom and on one of them is dis- covered evidence of new oil storage tanks, extended sidings and barge concentra- tions which were not present on previous photographs of the spot. This, it is de- cided, shall be one of the targets for the night's operations. A certain squadron is detailed for the job and one sees the briefing of the crews and the prepara- tions for " the party. " One by one the Wellingtons taxi out and take off in the moonlight and then one is aboard F for Freddy, which is to make a low-level attack after earlier arrivals have lit the target with incen- diaries. On its way to the target one is treated to some admirable shots of the bomber above a cloudscape until the tough little Scottish navigator announces that they are nearing their objective. Down goes the nose of the Wellington, a break in the clouds shows them their "target, and it wheels round to make the run up "parallel with the canal." The bomb aimer adjusts his sights and there, below and ahead, one sees the glow of a dozen points of fire where the incen- diaries have done their job. To the rising roar of the engines the Wellington streaks down in a shallow dive. With calm, expressionless face, the bomb aimer reaches out a hand and snaps down the selection switches; his eye lines up on the sights—"Right, right; steady ! '' His thumb waits over the re- lease button; slowly, it seems, the target slides straight into line, the thumb squeezes down—"Bombs gone, sir!" Suspense And down there, amongst the little fires and in defiance of the bursting flak and the streams of tracers whining up at the Wellington, one of the bombs bursts with a terrific flash right among the storage tanks. Then the Wellington lurches as a shell bursts mighty close; inside the machine the wireless opera- tor falls from his seat. The pilot steadies his aircraft. But F for Freddy now has no wireless. Calmly the Scottish navigator plots the course for home. Oil pressure has dropped on the port engine and they can only just hold their height. Back at their station everyone is waiting. No word from F for Freddy, but all the others come back safely, leaving one ominous gap on the tally board. Nobody betrays his anxiety, but little is said. Fog begins to close down. Then at last the drone of engines is heard. Officers and men rush to their posts. "Yea, here ehe comes; switch on the floodlight! " Up in the damaged bomber the cap- tain asks his crew shall they bale out or shall he try a landing." All of them— even the wounded man—promptly answer " Try a landing, sir." "Okay, cross your fingers! " This is easily the most tense part of the film as one hears the Wellington circling, coming lower, gliding in to- wards the flare-path. But the captain makes it safely. " Hope we haven't kept you waiting, sir," he says as he enters the interroga- tion room. Humour ' " - There is humour in this film as well as drama. But it is the dry humour typical of the British fighting man and with no trace of film heroics. The only part that is necessarily '' staged'' is that which depicts Germans rushing frantically to their A. A. guns with cries of " Achtung ! Achtung! !" and the ground shots of the blazing buildings and exploding tanks— scenes which, one has to admit, inspire a feeling Of vicious satisfaction, as they are patently meant to do. "Nice work," says the Group Captain when he hears the crew's report. This film is "nice work," too. •-• - ~_* Handing-on the TorchT HE arrival in Canada of "a large number " of R.A.F. instructors from Great Britain has recently been officially announced. - Laminar FlowT HE North American NA-73 Mustang, designated P-51 by the U.S. Army Air Corps, is the first military aeroplane to be designed with an aerofoil section developed as a result of research in laminar flow undertaken by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Flow past an aerofoil section is fre- quently laminar near the leading edge and then becomes increasingly turbulent as the trailing edge is approached. No information on the new wing section has been released, but it is almost certain that the basis of its design is to hold back the onset of turbulence to a- point as near the trailing edge as possible. This work has been going on for some years AIRBORNE AUSSIE : the first Bristol Beaufort to be produced in Australia is here seen taking off on its maiden flight near Melbourne. It was assem- bled from components shipped out from Britain, but soon these aircraft will be produced entirely in the Commonwealth. and it has also been applied to airscrews, those fitted to the latest Boeing 314 Clip- pers embodying the result of the work. U.S. Bomber ManufactureE VIDENCE of the increasing weight which is being placed on the manu- facture of heavy bombers in U.S.A. is seen in the value of contracts which have been let. Boeing, Douglas and Vega (the Lockheed subsidiary) will make Boeing B-17E Fortresses, and Con- solidated, Douglas and Ford the Con- solidated B-24 Liberators. War Depart- ment contracts let in June for four- engined heavy bombers totai over $644,000,000 dollars (^161,000,000). The unit cost of this type will be about ^50,000 or ^60,000, so the order is apparently for about 3,000 bombers.
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