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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1115.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •* FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL > Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 8-10, Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY J CORPORATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar,Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 i GLASGOW, C.2 i 260, DEANSGATE, 26B, RENFIELD ST., i Telegrams : lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. Telephone : Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper. £1 10 6. 3 months, 15s. 3d. No. 1744. Vol. XLI. MAY 28th, 1942. Thursdays, One Shilling. The Outlook- China's Needs N OW that the Japanese have got Burma into their clutches it is doubtful whether they intend to invade India, but they certainly have undertaken an invasion of China from the west. Hitherto their attacks on that much-suffering country have all come from the east, and Chiang Kai-shek has moved his headquarters westward, step by step, until he reached Chungking, which is a long way distant from Japan and within fairly convenient reach of Burma. While Indo-China was in the hands of an Ally, Burma and ^Malaya seemed to be safe ; but the collapse of France and the policy of Vichy altered all that, and now China is threatened from the west as well, while her main route of supplies has been cut. A Chinese Government spokesman, when asked what form of help was most needed, replied : "First, fighters and bombers; secondly, fighters and bombers; thirdly, fighters and bombers. After that we will specify our needs." It is indeed amazing how China has resisted for four years with practically no air weapon at all, but, of course, her sufferings and losses have been very great. The pitiful cry of the Government spokesman may seem to support those who declare that this is "an air war." Actually, it supports the contention of Flight (which has received striking confirmation from Sir Arthur Longmore—whose history of the Middle East under his command was published in our last issue) that the air is a necessary arm of an army, and that without a due air component an army is not a well-balanced fighting machine. How aircraft and other supplies are to be got through to China now that the Japanese have seized Burma is another question, and one that cannot be too easy to answer. The exploit of General James Doolittle, whom we all remember as the winner of the Schneider Contest of 1925, may suggest* an answer, but his feat was a sur prise, and it is not always possible to repeat surprises in war. Of course, once an American and British battle ( fleet is able to regain supremacy in the Pacific, all the rest will be straightforward, and all the Japanese tentacles will be cut off from their base to be obliterated more or less at leisure. That time will certainly come, and we all hope that it will not be too long delayed. The "Prinz Eugen" Torpedoed Again I F German shipyard workers are familiar with the story of the Odyssey, which is not very likely, the Prinz Eugen, and also the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, must remind them of Penelope's web. That ingenious lady used to work at it all day, but at night she unravelled what she had done, and next day started again. So the German workers keep on patching up holes in those three warships, and when they have made some progress the R.A.F. comes along and makes new holes. Repairing them must be heartbreaking work. The Prinz Eugen escaped unharmed from the action when the Bismarck was sunk. What she suffered while in Brest we do not know, but she was probably damaged during her escape up the Channel. Then she was tor pedoed by the submarine H.M.S. Trident, and was lucky to survive. The dockyard workers in Trondhjem patched her up and got her into trim for steaming off to some better-equipped German shipyard, and she actually got down as far as Lister, off the south-west coast of Norway.
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