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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1628.PDF
138 FLIGHT AUGUST 6TH, 1942 WAR IN THE AIR mainly fire bombs, and the second wave had more fire bombs than high explosives in the racks. Within 35 minutes over 175,000 fire bombs had fallen on the place and fires sprang up in all directions. A. wind carried the smoke aside, so that the targets still showed up in the combined light of the moon and the flames. Then the third wave flew over and unloaded its high explosives, including many of the 4,000 lb. bombs. This last attack only lasted a quarter of an hour, and it must have been indeed a mauvais quatre d'heure for Hamburg. The dose was repeated on the night of Tuesday, July 28th, but the weather did not favour our bombers. It has been described as "freak." All the way there our crews were struggling against adverse conditions, storms and icing, and some navigators did not find their way to the target. It seems probable that some were forced down . over enemy territory, in which case the crews would be taken prisoner. Those who arrived found a solid bank of clouds rather low down over Ham-- burg, and the pilots came down below it to bomb, thus presenting a good target to the defences. Large fires were started down below. There were also diversion raids on airfields in the Low Countries. Hamburg is probably the most strongly defended place in all Ger many against air attack, and it was not to be expected that our raids could be carried through without loss. Alto gether 20 bombers were lost during the Sunday night, and 32 on the Tuesday. One mourns for the loss of gallant. men, but perhaps an undue emphasis is placed on air losses by the prompt publication of the numbers. General Auchinleck's soldiers never make an advance without losing men and tanks, while a naval action often costs us far more in lives and expen sive material than is ever suffered in any air encounter. It is right to publish air losses promptly, but for the public to think (as it seems inclined to do) that air losses are more lamentable than naval or military losses is to lose a sense of proportion. The most pathetic of all losses of life in this war are those suffered so resolutely by the Merchant Navy^-but we only hear de tails of them on rare occasions. The Russians Hard Pressed ~\UR allies in Russia have been hard *•* pressed, and the loss of Rostov and other places is serious enough. Their spokesmen have been saying openly that the operations of the R.A.F. Bomber Command do not in terest them, except for propaganda purposes. They want an Allied force to land in Europe and attack the German forces from the west. Every body wants that to happen, but it would be folly for our leaders to allow themselves into being stampeded. They show no signs of such imbecility. As a member of the Government said not long ago, the worst thing which could happen would be to make the attempt and fail. The Battle of Egypt is a second front, and to fight it out is the best thing which Britain can do at the moment. Obviously, General Auchinle'ck is still short of heavy SAVED : A Sunderland flying boat picking up the crew of a Whitley which came down in the sea while on anti-submarine patrol. tanks—or at least he has not got enough to overwhelm Rommel. Until the supply organisation has been able to send him enough to put him in a commanding position, it would be futile to think of amassing tanks for an invasion of the Continent — let alone consideration of shipping and innumerable other things. We are sure that Mr. Stalin understands that point as clearly as Mr. Churchill does, but there are less important people in Russia, as in Britain, who shout before they think. Though the Russians have been able to spare someJaombers for a series of raids on East Prussia, they are making no attempt to "win the war in the air." Neither are the Germans. On the eastern battle front the bombers on both sides are being used mainly as long-range and mobile.-^ artillery, with sometimes some close- range work to do on pontoon bridges and suchlike. The fighters play their orthodox parts overhead. There seems no definite air superiority on either side ; but the Germans have an ad vantage in better communications behind their lines, and in the posses sion of large numbers of transport air craft. The Russians cannot transport all the ground impedimenta of a bomber squadron from one important point to another so easily as the Germans can do. By the same token, it is interesting to read that some Bombays are at work in Egypt, and bring up supplies to Gen. Auchinleck's front line. Raids on Britain THE Germans cannot have very * many bombers in the west, for they need all the aircraft they can muster on the Russian front, and in Libya Rommel has been left on the short side. The Luftwaffe's tactics in the west have been to make as much show as possible with a few bombers, arrffe^ for Dr. Goebbels to tell the German! people that Great Britain is being hit' as hard (or nearly so) as Duisberg and Hamburg have recently been hit. One night last week the Luftwaffe com mander in France scraped together about 60 to 70 bombers and sent most of them to Birmingham. The Ger man wireless announced that it was a force of 200. There have been fre quent small raids on towns on the coast of East Anglia, and single machines have ventured across by day when there has been cloud cover and have dropped bombs here and there, sometimes machine-gunning the streets of towns which it was thought safe to attack. These raiders have not escaped unscathed. The Birmingham raid cost the Luftwaffe nine machines. --That was a very substantial proportion $ of the force sent over, and the com- mano^r in France must have been con
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