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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0856.PDF
No Qualitative Parity with. Allied Equipment: Weakness in Replacement Capacity : Reliance on Foreign Designs : Problem of Skilled Labour : Representative Types Now in Service By DR. V. L. GRUBERG WITH Japan joining the Axis Powers in their bid for world domination began the third and final act in the long drama of the "Eastern Co-Prosperity Scheme.' The curtain rose in 1937 on Japan's aggression against China ; the second act was swiftly and smoothly put over with her occupation of French Indo- China. The present act will be the most dramatic, and more likely to close with a " traditional hara-kiri•" than with a " Happy ending." In the struggle which Japan has forced upon the Far East, the air arm, in close co-operation with naval forces, is playing and will continue to play an important role. And it is the air arm which is not as strong as the other tentacles with which Japan is trying to strangle the countries around the Pacific. In the face of the Japanese successes this statement may sound over- optimistic, and a misjudgment of the striking-power of Nippon. But the successes scored by the Japanese in this initial stage of the Pacific War do not testify to the capacity of Japan's Air Potential. In these operations there was a combination of factors strongly in Japan's favour: first the advantage of the initiative, secondly the unsatisfactory preparation for the defence and inadequate supplies of equipment of the Allies, and thirdly the widespread and highly efficient fifth column and intelligence work of the Japanese. How They Began While we have to acknowledge the excellent large-scale planning of Japanese strategy and their ability to co-ordinate the various small actions into a mozaic kind of operation, we should not attribute to Japan's air power something which is riot its due : superiority to or even qualitative parity with the equipment of the Allied Air Forces. Though mystic secrecy has shielded Japan's growing air fleet, it was known that the number of aircraft at the disposal of her forces was larger than that which the Allies couW-Vy muster at the start of military opera tions in this theatre of war. Admit- tingly, the Japanese have exploited this local superiority to the maximum. But the number of planes available NIPPON FIGHTERS. A batch of Nakajima 97s, which are the most commonly encountered type in their class, resemble the earlier Boeings. Note the two- bladed airscrew and fixed undercarriage.
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