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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1932.PDF
298 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1942 Combined Communique's I T is satisfactory to see that some communiques have been issued jointly by the Air Ministry and the Head quarters of the U.S. Army in the European Theatre oi Operations. It is a practice which could with advan tage be extended. In the Middle East the doings of the Army and the Air Force arc now so closely connected that communiques dealing with the combined work of the two are the rule. In the same way, when Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten raids Dieppe or some other place, the story is told in a communique from Combined Headquarters. Likewise in the South-West Pacific General MacArthur issues communiques dealing with all the forces under his command, air and land, American and Australian. In the air offensive against Germany in the West, where the U.S. Army Air Forces and the R.A.F. (including Dominion and European Allied Air Forces) work together, combined communiques might advantageously become the regular thing. Exceptions would naturally be made to the rule when the time comes for American squadrons to make raids deep into German territory, but while Fighter Command usually provides an escort for them, the whole story of what happened can only be told if both authorities collaborate in telling it. C O N T E N TS The Outlook War in the Air Here and There A Ferry Pilot's Day- Topics of the Day - Aircraft Characteristics The Torpedo Bomber Fortresses Can Fight Behind the Lines - Plastics and Aircraft World Press Summary Indian Air Force - Correspondence Service Aviation - - - - - - - - - - - - - ' - - - - - - - -. - _ - - - •* - - - - - 308 • - - - - - - - y 297 t 299 302 303 307 a andb 309 3" 312 313 3i6 3i7 320 321 TRAVELLING BALLOON BARRAGE : R.A.F. Balloon Com mand co-operate with the Royal Navy in escorting coastwise shipping convoys. R.A.F. personnel work in the balloon ships. The Diving Hurricane I ISTENERS were probably astonished to hear a squadron leader state in a broadcast last Saturday that Hurricanes had been used to dive-bomb a factor/ at Calais. From about 8,000ft. the eight machines were, he said, put into a 70-deg. dive, kept formation all the way down to 1,500ft., dropped their bombs, and pulled out. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Hurricane can "take it." Designed seven years ago for a Merlin engine of much lower power than the present versions, it has seen all manner of service in addition to its legitimate function. It has had bombs hung on its wings, first light and then heavier ones; it has been fitted with attachment points to enable it to be cata pulted from convoys ; it has had heavier and heavier armament installed, and now it has been used as a dive- bomber, althotigh that occasion was probably an impromptu affair rather than yet another function. It may be recalled that an early Hurricane was dived vertically at Evere during the Brussels aero show in 1939 by one of Hawker's test pilots, Fit. Lt. R. C. Keynell. —Ad Astra I T is known that Germany did a lot of research work on pressure cabins before the war. We should IOO^R rather silly if she quietly got together a couple <?T dozen high-flying bombers and sent them over London at some 35,000-40,000ft. Neither the present fighters nor the anti-aircraft guns would be able to take toll of them, and no great number would be required to make a daily raid." That sentence is taken from the leader page of our issue of January nth, 1940. When we wrote it we did not expect Germany to bomb the British Isles immedi ately from the stratosphere, but we did foresee that the high-flying bomber was a weapon which Germany was not likely to overlook. _Our forecast appears to have been proved correct, in that a type of enemy bomber, said to be a Junkers Ju.86 P, has been reported over this country, flying at a height of about 40,000ft. The 86 is, in itself, an old twin-engined type, but presum ably the new version has/Been fitted with pressure cabin. The original type wasyproduced both with radial petrol engines and with dy^els, and it may well be that the new sub-stratospttere type has compression-ignition f engines, quite possibly blown by exhaust-driven super chargers. If thfet be the case, this will be the first time that diesel endfnes have been employed on operational duties in thisAvar. i\tXy/LM i.QCl^
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