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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1825.PDF
AUGUST 14TH, 1941. FLIGHT in The Air The Russo-German Air Conflict : the Brest Problem. : Middle East's Widespread Raids SCHARNHORST-GNEISENAU RAID : A line of Beauforts of the Coastal Command ready to take off for the attack on Brest and La Pallice. / • 5HERE was a very cheering re- I mark in a recent broadcast by -•- Air Commodore Goddard. He told all listeners that bombers are now training with the British Army. Not long ago the official theory was that it would only be necessary to train the staff of a bomber Group to work with the Army, and that did not sound quite convincing to everybody. It is well to know that more active steps are being taken to see that when next a British Expeditionary Force fights on land it will be supported by bombers who have already worked with it. Of course that does not exhaust the air needs of an Expeditionary Force, but the information is a straw which shows where the wind is blowing. The Red Air Force is now rubbing home the lessons taught by the Luft- waffe in France and by the R.A.F. Middle East Command of the value of an Air Force which works well with an Army. Detailed information is hard to come by, but evidently the Russian fighters are still holding their own, and the Germans have not ventured to bomb Moscow by daylight. It is also evident that Russian bombers are con- tinuing to attack the German mechan- ised columns. The German High Com- BIPLANE GROUNDSTRAFER : Bombing-up a Russian single-seat biplane withsmall-calibre bombs for low attacks on German troops and tanks. mand recently issued a long statement on the glorious victories which the armies have won, and at the end of it claimed that a total of 9,082 Red air- craft had been destroyed either in the air or on the ground. If any credenpe could be given to these figures, one would be filled with admiration for the numbers of aircraft which the Russians must have had in reserve at the begin- ning of the campaign—for if their air power had been so badly crippled as the German claim suggests, there would now be small chance of their armies holding their ground against the German advance, or making counter-attacks. The great distances in Russia are setting problems for the invaders. Advanced landing grounds could be made almost anywhere on the Russian plains, but to move up supplies of petrol and all that goes to make an efficient air base is not so easy with the break of gauge on the railways at the frontier. German bombers shot down by the Russians have been found to have large supplies of petrol in their tanks, indicating a long journey out and back. There is evidence that by now the Germans have moved the majority of their bomber force from Northern France to the Eastern front. It seems that the German A.O.C. in the West has had orders to keep stir- ring the pot gently, dabbing at the coast of Britain (which is good prac- tice for new pilots), and dropping a few bombs by night without engaging in any large-scale operations while the main effort is in the East. An occa- sional night raid of a rather more vicious character is evidently per- mitted. Since the Scharnhorst was attacked fc- .
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