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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1172.PDF
550 F LI by the fact that America has no independent air force, her two air branches being sections of the United States Navy and Army respectively. It would be dangerous, from this fact, to jump to the conclusion that America's contribution would necessarily take the form of co operation with our own Army and Navy. The Royal Air Force has amply demonstrated its ability, as an independent arm, of doing good work for the other Services, and there is no reason to doubt that American Army and Navy air forces could-equally well switch over to independent action should the authorities deem this to be desirable. Whatever form the joint action takes, it is likely to prove embarrassing to the enemy. 1,001 Night T HAT the Royal Air Force does not need to wait for the assistance of American help, welcome though it will be later, was proved by the gigantic raid on the Ruhr and Cologne last Saturday night. Those who, not unnaturally perhaps, had been asking why we had not been bombing Germany lately had their answer on Sunday morning when the Cologne raid was announced. The B.B.C. caused some consternation by stating first the number of aircraft lost—44 in all. One's mind at once harked back to that night last year when we lost 37 bombers in one' night; but then the announcer . gave the reassuring news that the 44 represented less than five per cent, of the number of aircraft engaged in the raid, not to mention the aircraft of Coastal, Fighter and Army Co-operation Commands which had done their worthy share by creating diversions elsewhere. CON The Outlook ---.._ 549 War in the Air - - - - - 551 Behind the Lines - - - - - . 554 Avro Manchester - - - - - 555 Rolls-Royce Vulture Engine - 557 Flying in the Middle East - - - - 558 World's Press Summary - 559 Post-War Civil Aviation - G H T JUNE 4TH- 1942 From the fact that all our bomber types took part in the raid on the Ruhr one may reasonably assume that the average bomb load carried by the raiders was not less than two tons; in actual fact, it was probably a good deal more. Out of that load of mischief Cologne must have been getting not far short of twenty tons of bombs for every one of the 90 minutes the raid lasted. London never experienced anything comparable during its worst raids, and Cologne is a small place compared with London, so that the intensity of the attack may well be imagined. There is little doubt that our four-engined bombers—Halifaxes, Stirlings and Lancasters—carried some of the heaviest of the new blast bombs which the Germans have come by experience to call "district bombs." This means that even the weight of bombs dropped does not give an adequate picture, for the heavies do damage over a much greater area—while the smaller bombs dropped in large quantities by our t^nn- engined bombers would add their quota to the general destruction. We are very glad that the Prime Minister paid his tribute to the chief of Bomber Command. An organisa tion which can plan and carry into effect the despatch and return of something like 1,000 aircraft, and concen trate the attack on the target into one short hour and a half, is obviously worthy of the splendid air crews who manned the machines. Nor should one forget the ground crews, whose unobtrusive but very vital efforts made th:> raid possible. Everyone concerned deserves the verv highest praise ; and what has been done once can be, and will be, done again. NTS Here and There Air/Sea Rescue Topics of the Day What Is It ? - More War Pictures Ad Astra Correspondence Service Aviation - - - - - • - - - - - - - - - - - 560 - a & b 561 562 564 565 570 - 57i
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