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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1988.PDF
328 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER WAR N THE AIR the great United States victory of Midway Island, it has only just been announced that the carrier Yorktown, of 20,000 tons, was lost in the battle. The loss of the carrier Lexington was admitted at the time, as it was certain that the Japanese knew that fact, but they might not have known the fate of the Yorktown. She was damaged by air attack and hit by both bombs and torpedoes, but it was hoped that she might be saved. A Japanese sub marine put an end to this hope by hit ting her with two torpedoes. The U.S. Navy is still possessed of five aircraft carriers. In the Pacific T^HE Japanese have been making ah •*• attempt to regain - their ascend ancy in the Solomon Islands, but their efforts appear to have been half hearted. The Americans have not got complete control of the ?eas to the north of the islands, and enemy cruisers approach the islands, some times landing small bodies of troops, sometimes shelling the American posi tions. It is, however, significant that these vessels always come by night. The American answer is by air action, and recently two Japanese cruisers were reported hit, one by a bomb and the other by an air torpedo. The air craft which attacked them were naval torpedo-bombers, Devastators and Avengers. A naval fighter has also been in the news, namelv, the Wild- *am A ZERO AT ZERO : A Japanese 00 fighter shot down on one of the Aleutian Islands by the gunners of a U.S. naval patrol. It is from such wrecks as these that intelligence officers prepare the general arrangement drawings as shown on page 341. cat, which is the U.S. version of the Grumman Martlet. Martlets are used as carrier fighters in the Royal Navy, so there is probably no great difference between the two types. The Americans have also made a heavy attack on one of the Aleutian islands occupied by the Japanese, Kiska by name. This raid was en trusted to the Army Air Force, and was carried out by LiberatArs escorted by Airacobras and Lightnings. Several TOUGH-LCOKING GUYS : This picture, retougbetTbyorder of tl Department, shows fully-equipped U.S. infantrymen and other Curtiss Commando military transporter. ,-Tne machine has a span of weighs 50,000-fb. fully loaded. War in a and ships were sunk or damaged, and among the latter were three sub marines. The defences were not strong, and six enemy aircraft were destroyed, four of them being Zero fighters which were shot down in the air. No American machines were lost. In Papua fierce fighting has been in progress on the Owen Stanley range, and the Australian troops have been holding their own. Again the air action by the American Army has been vigorous, and the chief Japanese base at Buna on the northern shore is constantly bombed. Fortresses have also raided Rabaul, where Zero fighters which tried to interfere were driven off with some loss, and again the American machines all returned safely. ^ Maj. Gen. G. C. Kenney, of *jp American Army Air Force, who has just been appointed commander of all the Allied Air Forces in the South west Pacific, has made a very en couraging statement. He compared the Kittyhawk fighter with the Zero, and said: '' Our planes are better armoured than the Zeros, and have bullet-proof tanks whjch enable us to get to close quarters with the Japanese and slug him. . . . When a Zero catches a good burst from our fighters it just crumples up. I have seen them burst into flames and fall to pieces in the air. On the other hand, I have seen one of our planes return to base with 200 to 300 bullets in the fuse lage. . . . The Zero is admittedly easier to manoeuvre than our fighters, but the Japanese are welcome to that. Our pilots like to get close in." These conclusions tally with the fighting theories of the Poles in the R.A.F. They, too, like to close the range. Long-range firing on land, on .sea, and in the air is always likely to
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