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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1910.PDF
x«j«J FLIGHT AUGUST 2IST, 19 ji. BOUND FOR BREST. A Fortress I takes off for the attack on the Gneisenau at Brest on July 24th. HIGH-ALTITUDE DAY BOMBER Boeing Fortress I : Exhaust Turbo-Supercharger : American Bomb-sight ON July 24th, at two o'clock in the afternoon, "combat"bombs were dropped for the first time lrom Fortressaircraft of the Bomber Command—they were in action !The Fortresses were the spearhead of a fleet of bombers whose adventures we described in our issue of August 7th under thetitle of "The Great Daylight Attack." The photographs on this page show one of the Fortresses engaged. Then, on July 26th. a Fortress I made a reconnaissance flight over Emden in daylight and dropped bombs among theindustrial buildings to the east of the Boltentors Strasse, and on August 2nd another reconnaissance and bombing flightwas made to Kiel. Results showed, said the Air Ministry, the extraordinary accuracy of the American-built automaticbomb-sight which is installed. This is good news, as the whole value of high-altitude bombers depends on the accuracyattainable with bombing. Inaccurate bombs are almost use- less; although the high-altitude bomber is practically immunefrom flak trouble and fighter interception, these advantages are not put to any good purpose if the bombs cannot be aimedwith precision. One of the Fortress crew, in a broadcast, re- marked that at the height at which they flew the temperaturewas minus 35 deg. C. This corresponds to a height of 25,000ft. in the standard atmosphere, but of course the conditions onthat day may not have been exactly standard. The ability to fly with load at such great height as thisdepends on whether the engines can develop a reasonable proportion of their power in the low-density atmosphere. Thisis assured on the Boeing Fortress by the installation of exhaust- driven turbo-superchargers on the four 1,200 h.p. WrightCyclones. The perfecion of the exhaust turbine is a major engineering triumph, as the gas has a temperature of about800 deg. C. when it passes through the exhaust port and its velocity is such that it wonld wear away many metals. AT THE MIGHTY WURLITZER. With four engines,feathering airscrews, retracting undercarriage, turbo-exhaust blowers and locking tail-wheel, the pilots have something tothink about. SIDE GUNNER. Though the Fortress armament cannot besaid to be heavy, this is a formidable .sin. Browning machine gun. Readers will appreciate that this photographis posed on the ground as gunners do not work at minus 35 dee. C. without flying suit or gloves.
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