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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1226.PDF
57» WAR IN THE AIR fighter squadrons have been destroyed in daylight ' sweeps' carried out by Fighter Command over enemy- occupied territory. This figure ex cludes those other enemy aircraft which Fighter Command has destroyed by night and in the protection of coastal shipping. "Each of these enemy fighter lost on the Western Front means calling upon the German aircraft factories for a replacement which would otherwise have been available for use against Russia or our forces in the Middle East. And each German fighter sent to the Western Front means one less for Russia and the Middle East. Second Front " ''THUS the daily sweeps of Fighter •*- Command, with their steady toll of the enemy's aircraft, mark the beginning of a second front in the west where nearly 50 per cent, of the total German fighter force has had to be re tained to meet the jpint offensive of Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Com mands. "Fighter Command's offensive is not being waged without loss to itself, though those losses bear no compari son to the enormous casualties which the Luftwaffe suffered over this side of the Channel in the Battle of Britain. Fighter Command on the offensive con tinues to shoot down more enemy fighters than it loses itself—no mean achievement for a force that is fighting on the enemy's side of the Channel and penetrating into occupied terri tory where one bullet in the engine may mean that the pilot has to bale out and his aircraft is lost. '' ft may be suggested that the air craft engaged on fighter sweeps might be more usefully employed in other more distant theatres of war; even that their presence there rnight have prevented some unpleasant reverses. In fact, if fighter sweeps were to be altogether abandoned, or had been CHINESE AIRMEN RELAX : This scene in the aircrews' quarters of one of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek's squadrons shows that the inevitable gramophone is just as popular with the Chinese as with many of our airmen. abandoned months ago, it would not help to add one single fighter squadron to any of our overseas fighter forces. The bottle-neck to the rein forcement of fighter strength on dis tant fronts does not lie in any shortage of aircraft or pilots. It is entirely a matter of transport. "As it is, there are no more fighters in this country than are necessary for two purposes—the defence of this country against air attack and against the possibility of invasion. To employ this force offensively, in damaging and hurting the enemy, as Fighter Com mand is at present doing, is obviously preferable to keeping that same force sitting on its airdromes waiting for the enemy to come and attack us from the air or invade us. It is also more in accord with the offensive spirit of the British people, and certainly of the spirit which animates the fighter pilots whose morale has never been higher than it is to-day when the initiative is theirs." Middle East Maelstrom A DECIDING factor in the phase "^ of the Libyan battle last week was, beyond all question, the vital part played by the R.A.F. in close co-operation with the ground forces. From dawn till dusk fighters, fighter-bombers and fast day bombers were hard at it gunning and bombing Rommel's tanks, transport and sup plies, concentrations of enemy mechanised transport beiag attacked from low altitude. This alone cost the Germans something like 1,000 vehicles of various types, including petrol tankers, ammunition wagons and armoured cars, but the delay and cdo- fusion which the non-stop attaclSk caused the enemy were just as valu- 0^ HAMPERING THE HUN . graph of the Goodrich Rubb near PariS^'^hicri* was prod it was vIsiteaFby the R.A.F. KJ^V / iere is an R.A.F. reconnaissance photo- Tyre company's works at Gennevilliers, ing for the German war machine until 'he extensive damage is clearly visible.
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