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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1727.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IM 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.LI Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY: 8-10, CORPORATION ST., Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 : 260, DEANSGATE, 26B, RENFIELDST., Telegrams : lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfriars +412. Telephone • Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, Registered ot the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. £1 10 6. 3 months, 15s. 3d. No 1756. Vol. XLII. August 20th, 1942. The Outlook- Thursdays, One Shilling The Loss of H.M.S. Eagle /kIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR ARTHUR LONG- f\ MORE has said (if we remember right) that the day of the aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean is past, and Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham has laid it down that "when great distances are involved this weapon (i.e., naval aircraft) must be transported in carriers, but in confined spaces like the Mediterranean it can be shore-based, given suitable aircraft and tech nique." Despite the views of these two authorities, the Navy continues to use carriers in the Mediterranean, and H.M.S. Eagle has now been added to the tale of carrier losses. Incidentally, it was a submarine and not tjMgiy aircraft which sank her. ^Pfose two distinguished officers set up an ideal, but what is practicable does not always conform with the ideal. It is hard to see how the Navy can avoid using carriers in the Mediterranean at present. It must always be remembered that within its range the shore-based single-engined fighter dominates the skies, and that Malta must be kept supplied with that class. There seems no way of getting them there except in a carrier. Large freighter aircraft might solve the problem, but Britain is woefully short of that class. Moreover, long- range fighters from the shore cannot do all the protective work which a fleet needs. In the Mediterranean the fleet is constantly attacked by the enemy's shore-based aircraft, and it needs to have at its disposal protecting fighters which can take off and get to work without delay. That part of the fleet which is based on Gibraltar would be in parlous case if it had to wait for long- range fighters from Egypt to come to its assistance. Many a time have enemy aircraft which were trying to shadow our fleet been shot down by Fulmars from the companying carrier, and to dispense with that form i help would be a heavy handicap. Except in the narrows to the south of Sicily, the Axis bombers which attack our ships have to be protected by long-range shore-based fighters, and even if our own long-range fighters could get to the place in time, they, as a class, would have no advantage over the enemy's fighters. The single-engined fighters from a carrier can give, and often have given, invaluable protection to the fleet in such engagements. So it seems that, for the present at any rate, carriers are a necessity to the Mediterranean Fleet, even though the risk of loss is great. As carriers go, H.M.S. Eagle was not a very valuable vessel. A ship of 22,600 tons which only accommodated twenty aircraft was an extravagant proposition. Even so, in the circumstances her loss is a blow, though the Navy is doubtless glad that it is only the Eagle which has been lost and not one of the new carriers of the Illustrious class. We may all be very thankful that the great majority of the Eagle's officers and men have been saved to fight another day. Aircraft in the East W HILE the terrible and critical battles rage in Russia, it is strange how little appears in the reports about the work of aircraft on either side. A German communique about the Russian offensive in the Rzhev area contains the statement: "All to-day bombing attacks by the Lufhvafte.on Russian positions and tank concentrations brought much relief to the Army units," but this remark is exceptional. The bombers are evidently "used on both sides as long-range artillery, playing their due part beside other arms in the mighty struggle, but e\'idently neither side is making any attempt to win the war by independent air action. Looking farther eastward, the United Nations Com mand in Australia has for weeks past been carrying out •
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