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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2411.PDF
OCTOBER I6TH, 1941. FLIGHT AIR Fleet Air Arm, for shooting down one of the Condors after being catapulted off a merchant ship. The pilots for this gallant job are drawn from both the Fleet Air Arm and the Fighter Command. When they take off they know that they must bring their fighters down on the water after the scrap, and they hope to be picked up by a ship in the convoy or by one of the escort vessels. The fighter machine is almost invariably lost, but if it has first destroyed a Condor the Allied cause comes well out of the deal. The subject is further discussed in a leading article in this issue. Good Russian Designs T ORD BEAVERBROOK'S broad- -L' cast on October 12th was very gratifying on the whole, and in par- BRITISH AIR LOSSES TO OCT Oct. 5 „ 6, 7 , 89 ., 10„ H Totals : Over G.B. Acrft 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 "7 Over Continent B'brs. 0 0 0 0 0 10 1 77 Ftrs. 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 North, 2,824 ; Middle Pilots 0 10 0 0 0 0 1 nth. Middle East A'crft. 0 3 0 0 2 0 5 To East, about 428 ticular it was encouraging to hearfrom him of the excellence of Russian aircraft designs, and of theproduction work which Capt. Balfour saw in their iactories. 11. is not toomuch to say that British listeners were surprised to hear Lord Beaver-brook's account of the Russian fighter M.I.G.3, " which corresponds in excel-lence of design and performance to our Hurricanes and Spitfires." He didnot specify whether he meant the earlier cr later marks of these Britishfighters. It was evident that Lord Beaverbrook himselt knew little ornothing about this machine before his visit to Moscow, and it seems that thetype has been put on production since the start of the German invasion—inwhich case a large output can hardly be expected for some months yet,even though the Russians have shown a remarkable power of getting big jobsdone very quickly. In that case the need for sending British and Americanfighters to Russia in quantities remains a matter of extreme urgency. Another new type which LordBeaverbrook mentioned was the Stormovik dive-bomber, which wasevidently a similar surprise to him, It has shown its mettle in battlealready, for the Minister of Supply remarked of it: "Heavily armoured,this aircraft has proved an outstand ing success in attacking troop con-centrations and breaking up enemy formations." The hard-pressed Rus-sian armies need all the help which the air can possibly give them inthat direction. Again, we suggest that the four-cannon Hurricane oughtto be very useful to them in putting thj German tanks out of action.Army aircrait are more asctul to the Russians than heavy bomberswould be. The general impression held in thiscountry at the beginning of the Russo- German campaign was that the RedAir Force might actually outnumber the Luftwaffe, but that the performanceof its main types was on the whole somewhat below that of the corre-sponding German machines. It JIOWseems that the Russians have among them some first-class designers, andthat their country did not lose all its aeronautical talent when Mr, Sikorskyleft for the United States at the time of the original Bolshevik revolution.Cf course, we may now regret that these outstanding types, the M.I.G.3and the Stormovik, had not been designed and put on production beforeRussia was involved in war ; but better late than never. ENEMY Oct. 5 ., 6 „ 7 .. 8 „ 9 „ 10 „ H Totals : AIR LOSSES by Over G.B. 0 0 0 0 1 1 -) 4 West R.A.F. TO OCT. 11 Over Continent Russia 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 and Russia, o'ver 2, 0 3 0 0 0 .0 0 3 5,450 ; 131. Middle East 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Middle East, THE EPIC OF MALTA : Hurricanes ready to take-off on a Malta aerodrome. The "Battle of Malta " has been waged in thesame heroic fashion against the same enormous odds as was the Battle of Britain. The story will make wonderful reading when it comes to be told.
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