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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2090.PDF
the Russians cannot move their squad rons from place to place so readily as the Germans are able to do. The transport aircraft has certainly come into its own in this year's Eastern campaign. The Germans claim to have bombed the port and city of Astrakhan at the mouth of the river Volga on the Cas pian Sea. No doubt the object was to interfere with Russian transport of oil and supplies from Persia up the Volga. New Guinea TT is always cheering to hear of troops -*- of the United Nations taking the initiative, even though it be on a small scale. This applies particularly to the war against Japan, for at the begin ning the enemy seized the initiative in every direction, and for a long time, far too long, continued to advance without a check. There have been no more Japanese advances for a con siderable time past, and gradually the Allies, having held him, are beginning to push him back. The Australians have started an advance on the summit of the Owen Stanley range in New Guinea, and have met with some success. The number of troops employed on each side is necessarily small, for the country is very difficult, and large forces could not be supplied. In those wooded jungles the fighting SPERRY-DIRECTED : A stick of bombs falling from the racks of a Fortress. It is interesting to note the differences in gap between the missiles which is caused by slight inaccuracies in the automatic electric release. is not mechanised in character, except for the mechanism of small arms. In the air above, the bombers give what support they can. This can only take the form of attacks on communica tions and supplies, and particu larly on the bridges which make the jungle tracks usable. One bridge has been frequently men tioned ; it is called Wairopi, which is said to be the native way of pronouncing "wire- rope" bridge. It seems a petty target for the great American Fortresses, but its distance from their base probably explains their employment. If there were an air base sufficiently near, probably Blenheims could deal with Wairopi well enough. One must, however, remember the capacity of Fortresses to defend themselves when attacked by Japanese fighters, and American air losses have been astonish ingly low in that area. The heavy bombers have greatly reduced the utility of this bridge. Japanese bases in New Guinea have also been bombed. Catalinas have been sent to bomb airfields in the Solomons, places called Buin and Buka being named. At the first the damage done was believed to be extensive, but the results of the simultaneous raid on Buka were not observed. None of the Catalinas was lost. Beaufighters built in Australia have lately been in action against the Japanese in New Guinea, and also Douglas A20 attack- bombers. It is too early yet to say that there is a chance of expelling the Japanese from New Guinea, but the great thing is that they have not been able to occupy Port Moresby, and now they are farther off from it than they were a fortnight ago. The continuous bombing of their bases by the ALL LIT UP: Tobruk at night illuminated by a Mash bomb to take this photograph. Flak was very quiet. The one streak is coming from the fuse of the flash bomb. OCTOBER 8TH, 1942 Americans and Australians must cer tainly make their position far from comfortabie. Australia is being de fended mainly by bomber aircraft. A Desert Battle •\T7TrH the passing of September, *" weather should be getting favourable for campaigning in the desert, though before long the troops on both sides will have to endure con siderable heat by day and uncomfort able cold by night. General Mont gomery has told us all over the wireless that the life in the desert is very healthy and that the Eighth Army, at the end of the hot weather, is very fit. The airmen, of course, or at least the air crews, can get out of the burning heat of the day, but they have to put up with the cold of the nights just as the infantry have to do. In the last war, and perhaps to some extent in temperate climates in this war, life at Air Force stations included a degree of comfort and even luxury which the infantryman was inclined to envy. • That does not apply to air stations out in the desert, where the messes are anything but luxurious. The standard meal is often salty tea and bully beef. Exactly why Rommel went over to Berlin when Hitler made his recent speech has not been explained, but it is likely that he wanted to set forth to him the problems of the position in Egypt. It seems most probable that lately more aircraft have been sent across to the Axis there, despite the claims of the Russian front. Still, the Eighth Army continues to hold super iority in the air, and from all accounts the co-operation between its air squad rons and its ground troops is growing ever closer and more effective. The last day of September saw a British attack in the early morning on some strong points held by the enemy opposite the centre of the British posi tion. These were captured after brisk fighting, and counter-attacks were .J>
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