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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1578.PDF
172 F LIG WAR IN THE AIR hurried across to Rommel proved very expensive in Axis aircraft. In the first three weeks of July no less than 113 machines were destroyed by the Malta defences. Rommel would doubtless have been very glad to have had those machines at his disposal, but he probably wanted the ship- borne supplies and reinforcements even more. The Middle East HTHE Mediterranean Command of the -*- R.A.F. has been subordinated to that of the Middle East during the war, but it has to work independently to a considerable extent, and it has its own Air Officer Commanding. For the past year the A.O.C. has been Air Vice- Marshal HP. Lloyd, C.B., C.B.E., M.C., D.F.C., and he organised the really wonderful air defence of the island during the very heavy Axis attack. He has also had to deal with much reconnaissance work over the Mediterranean. Now he well deserves a rest and change, and he has been succeeded by Air Vice-Marshal K. R. Park, C.B., M.C., D.F.C., who com manded No. 11 Group of Fighter Com mand during the Battle of Britain, and therefore knows all that can be learnt in the hard school of experience about using fighters and ground defences to beat off air attacks. In our last issue it was recorded how General Auchinleck had begun a cau tious yet spirited move forward from his position at 5E1 Alamein. By the time these words have been published this may have developed into a major battle, but at the moment of writing that does not appear probable. We may guess that the British had received reinforcements and that the General decided to improve his posi tion before still greater reinforcements reached the enemy, as tlifjy were pro bably on the way. So General Aurh- inleck pushed forward on all sectors of his front, securing stronger positions which had previously been held by the Germans and Italians. He used his armour with caution (for the losses of June 13th cannot yet have been made THE GRUMMAN AVENGER : A side view which shows in detail the layout of America's newest torpedo bomber which did so well at the Midway Island battle. The upper and lower gun turrets and the careful streamlining of the 1,700 h.a^* Wright Double Row Cyclone engine are emphasised. Totally enclosed betweeJK^ the lower rear turret and the engine, a 21 in. torpedo is housed. Another picture appears on page 114. „. good), but made the utmost use of his aircraft. Two very determined raids were made by our bombers and fighters on the advanced airfields of the enemy, in which at least 100 air craft were put out of action, some for good and all, the rest for the time being. That went far towards clearing the air (literally as well as figuratively) and made it possible for General Auch inleck' to use his own bombers and fighter-bombers freely as a form of field artillery. One new tactical development in this struggle was the use of Wellingtons to bomb the enemy's troops during the night. This suggests that heavy German tanks had been spotted by our reconnaissance machines, and really heavy bombs were the treatment required to deal with them. It is known that though the Axis tanks and other vehicles move about in all directions during the day, by night they like to concentrate in laagers of a sort. These concentrations make good targets. Other objectives which have been specially favoured are the mobile tank repair depots which have been moved up near to the front line. A Daimler-Benz-engined Macchi VTO2 fighter which wai i African Brigade in/m^'fVestern Desl Several of these have been knocked out by combinations of bombs, cannon shells and machine-gun fire from the air, with a marked effect on the num bers of vehicles which the Axis has been able to patch up and send back into the battle. At the same time, when an enemy tank is temporarily halted, and there is no assurance that we shall be able to get it away and turn it to our own use, our sapper:, have developed the art of blowing it up where it lies. That makes it cer tain that that particular tank will give us no further trouble. In addition, at all times during the day our fighter- bombers have knocked out innumer able supply vehicles, lorries full of infantry, armoured cars, and the lighter varieties of tank. Meantime, our fighters have kept the skies reason ably clear of enemy aircraft. It really seems as if General Auchinleck has discovered the secret of using j£> R.A.F. to help the Army in a battk, at least a battle in a fairly narrow patch of desert with both his flanks protected by natural obstacles—the sea at Alamein and the Quattara Depres sion to the south. In other descriptions of battle the tactics may have to be varied. In a wider stretch of desert the targets will not be so concentrated, and if on some other occasion our fighters hold a less definite superiority, then our fighter-bombers will not find their hands so free. The German Strategy "THIS battle for Egypt and the Ger- -*- man push towards Rostov are part of the same strategic movement on the part of the Germans, which aims at getting to the oil of the Caucasus and all the other benefits which would fol low from cutting the Allies in two in the Middle East. The two AHped Generals, Auchinleck and Timo- shenko, have fought the opening
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