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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2148.PDF
164 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER T8TH, 1941. by the Vichy French, had been largely exterminated in the Battle of Crete. Over 4,000 of these special troops were killed, and very large numbers of carrier aircraft were destroyed. This specialist corps were so mauled in the ferocious fighting that, although they forced us to evacuate Crete, they were themselves in no condition for further operations." Other interesting scraps of air information in the Prime Minister's speech told us that "new and brilliant" tactics have been developed by the Coastal Command and the R.A.F. bombing squadrons in dealing with enemy shipping; that almost every night 30 or 40 enemy aircraft drop mines in places likely to catch our shipping; and that in the Middle East we have within the last year built up an Air Force almost as large as that which we had in Great Britain when the war began. These items were scattered throughout Mr. Churchill's speech, and we have thought it would be of help to our readers if we picked them out and presented them together. ..._.^;-.:•. •;-. > \. Cockpit TroubleC IVIL flying -accidents, like the poor, are always with us. There is also another characteristic in common, for the fact that some people are con- demned to a poverty-stricken existence is as undesirable as the violent deaths of others in air accidents. We have had a statement in the House by the Air Minister on the first two of the recent three Atlantic Ferry acci- dents. These two accidents, which both occurred to four-engined aircraft leaving this country, took 44 valuable lives, of which the most distinguished was that of the Canadian, Mr. Arthur Purvis, chief of the British Purchasing Commission in U.S.A. Both these accidents were, to judge from the state- ment, quite avoidable. The first "as caused by being off course and flying into a mountain in conditions of poor visibility. From facts known to us, the aeroplane must have been flying at the low altitude of less than 3,000ft. If it had been up at only the modest height of 5,000ft. it would have been safe, even though it was off course, for there is nothing in the British Isles which it could have hit. Furthermore, there is no reason apparent why it should not have been flown at this height. In the second accident the pilot used the wrong run- way on the aerodrome, not the one which he had declared his intention of using. Then, in the take-off, he let the aeroplane leave the runway for the grass. Apparently this retarded it so much that it left the ground at the end of the aerodrome little if at all above its stalling speed. It subsequently crashed just outside the aerodrome. Neither of these two accidents should have happened. Life is always supremely valuable and must never be thrown away, but the loss of highly qualified men in wartime is particularly grievous. WELL NAMED : This picture gives an excellent impression of the new Lockheed Lightning single-seater fighter now beingproduced for the R.A.F. Officially known in America as the P-38, it is credited with having been clocked in level flight at 458 m p.h. Powered by two 1,150 h.p. liquid-cooled Allisons, it has a service ceiling of well over 30,000ft and is said to have anexceptional high-altitude performance. All its armament is mounted in the nose of the nacelle.
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