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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0927.PDF
APRIL 30TH, 1942 FLIGHT 425 THOSE MYSTERIOUS DIVE-BOMBERS Is Our Policy Too Inflexible? A Plea for Reconsideration Bv F. C. SHEFFIELD EVER since tough film star Wallace Beery introduced to the general public the Curtiss " Helldivers " of the U.S. Navy, the dive-bomber has been a subject for speculation. Invested with thrills and glamour, it has been credited with a fantastic ability to destroy all manner of targets. The demise of the monster battleship was predicted as a consequence of its development. m Not a little mystery had become attached to the dive-bomber before the war began. This was largely on account of the lack of interest in the type displayed by our Air Command, while all the major foreign powers were building dive-bombers and de veloping the necessary combatant technique. Ill-informed Comment An enormous amount of ill-informed comment has been written on the subject, but never such a spate as in recent months. The terrible de^ THE subject of dive-bombers has been very much in the forefront lately. In our issue of March 12th, i942, we published the views of a writer who considered the Hurricane bomber, the Beaufighter, and the torpedoplane better value for money. The present article is a plea for the dive-bomber, and although we do not altogether agree with the author we feel that his views are entitled to be studied. struction effected by the German dive- bombers in Poland, Holland, France and other theatres of war had been noted. When accounts of Japanese dive-bombing werepjiMatisd there was renewed pgrtrfroation. TnTs^^as not soothed by the appearance in the"- daily Press of contributions by " Oi Air Correspondent'' which ^^ soughf^e convince that America was the first country to develop the dive-bomber. The upper picture shows the Curtiss SBC-4, with Wright Cyclone engine. The German Junkers Ju 87 in the lower picture made the name "Stuka" famous or infamous! and that the British policy was best for an Ai nation. With the escape of the German warships through the Straits of Dover the matter came to a head. We at tacked these vessels with high-altitude bombers and obsolete torpedo bomb ers. Our attack was unsuccessful; we suffered heavy losses, and the question "Why no dive-bombers? naturally again arose. On the same lines as a one-time popular ditty, the answer was "Yes, we have no dive-bombers'' ; but it was not allowed to retain its disarming sim plicity. Varied Explanations The '' informed '' apologists rushed into prioifwith profound and sonorous exD^rfations: (1) There was the ther. Never had there been such anks of cloud or such low visibility, e dive-bomber would have been ess. (2) Dive-bombers would have tol descend to a low altitude and wyuld be brought down by defensive from the warships. (3) As the elocity of a bomb delivered by the dive method is less than that of a bomb from a high altitude, it cannot pierce deck armour and destroy a war ship except under fortuitous circum stances. (4) Dive-bombers are slow, poorly armed, and extremely vul nerable unless provided with an escort of fighters! Lord Trenchard said: "The dive-bomber is not new or terrible; indeed, it is a very in efficient machine in itself." Finally, according to reports, one wing-forward of International fame iroke awajf from the pack and scored a noto^etry for his side by thanking ven we had no dive-bombers, as y were obsolete. This try was dis- sed and criticised, but has yet to be\ converted. The arguments were glejriously mixed, and the resulting confusion was complete. The mystery eepened. The Real Question Every effort, it seemed, was made to force the issue along lines of "Fighters are better than dive- bombers," "Should we have fighters or dive-bombers ? " or " Shall we bomb from high or low altitude? " Even if not intended, these served to divert attention from the real ques- « tiori, " Why have we no dive-bom bers? " and to permit the. inference that we could or should have certain types, but not all types. Surely, the actual needs of the situation are as stated by an American commentator on March 10th referring to reinforce ments on the way to the south-west Pacific: '
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