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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2036.PDF
352 FLIGHT OCTOBER IST, 1942 different speeds and heights for a minimum of drag. Modern installations show how well the designers have succeeded in this direction, in addition to achieving the desirable feature of interchangeability. Shore-based and Ship-borne Aircraft F OLLOWING close on the heels of the great fight of the convoy to Malta comes the equally gallant and strenuous battle to take a very large convoy to northern Russia and bring another lot of ships home. All three voyages and fights tell the same story, and it is a very comforting one for Britain and the United Nations. In the struggle for life against the Axis nothing would avail us if we could not sail the high seas and get the majority of our ships to their destination. These lights have shown that the Royal Navy, provided that it has adequate air cover, can force its way through, despite the worst that enemy aircraft and submarines can do. These convoys have been fortunate in having Sea Hurricanes in their carriers, and on the voyage to Russia they, together with the anti-aircraft gunnerson the ships (who have by now acquired a high degree of skill and accuracy) hit the German bombers so hard that on the return voyage the convoy was not attacked at all from the air. The destroyer and the trawler which were lost both fell victims to torpedoes fired by submarines. One wonders whether the Germans had actually run short of bombers, or whether they had come,to the conclusion that another air attack ,was simply not worth while. These convoy battles have given rise to some mis- CONTENTS The Outlook - War in the Air Here and There Seversky Speaks Out _ _ _ _ The Bristol Hercules Power Unit Riding the Wind - Aircraft Characteristics Imperial Improvisation Topics of the Day - Plastics and Aircraft Behind the Lines - Quiet Birdmen - Correspondence - Service Aviation - _ _ _ _ ' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - - - - 360, - - - - - - - 351 353 356 337 359 360 a and b 363 366 368 371 372 374 375 apprehension. It has been pointed out that the victors were ship-borne aircraft, while the attackers were shore- based, and the suggestion has been made that the theory so often announced of the superiority of shore-based aircraft must be to some extent fallacious. In reality the theory has been misunderstood. It is a fact that shore-based aircraft must be superior to carrier-borne machines, but only class for class. The short-range fighter from the land must be better than the ship's fighter, and the same applies to the i:wo classes of bombers. But a Hurricane flown off a deck must be, and is, well able to account for any bomber. It also has an advantage over a long-range fighter from the shore. MINISTERS TO THE INTERIOR : Armourers loading the servo-feeds of ammuni|fon for the rear turret of a Halifax. For each of the four .303 Browning guns an extra supply of ammunitiop^rtSrrie^rafhi^ghips and fed to the rear of the fuse lage by long cjKffes. I if\
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