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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2142.PDF
The four Hurricane IICs, presented by Lady MacRobert in memory of her sons, flying in the Middle East. September Records A us BOMBER Command is steadily in creasing its power to work on dark, moonless nights. During September it made a special effort to do what it could to relieve the pres sure on Stalingrad, and. in the first twenty days of the month it made no fewer than twelve night raids, in the cqurse of which between 5,000 and 6,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Germany. Then the weather got too bad, and in the last ten days of the month only two night raids were made. During the height of the "blitz" in the winter of 1940-41 the Germans sent their bombers over Britain every night for a considerable time, regardless of the weather. It did not pay them, and when they realised that they abandoned the practice. Bomber Command aims at sending out bombers whenever there is a fair pro spect of getting results which are worth while, but makes no hard and fast rule that there must be optrations every night regardless of the weather. To its actual bombing activities must he added the amount of mine-laying done, which is less spectacular but pays good dividends. A feature of September's work was the adoption of the 8,000 lb. bomb as a standard weapon. In addition to the night bombing, the daylight raids should not be for gotten. So far, they- have been on a small scale, and may be classed as harassing raids, but they are certainly useful. The raid by a small force of Mosquitoes on Oslo was notable, for that type of aircraft is very suitable for this sort of work. The Germans The Stalingrad Struggle : More Mosquito Raids tralian Advance in New Guinea have found,, as we found a long time ago, that it does not pay to send .everybody to underground shelters whenever a day warning sounds, there by holding up all production and the general life of a place, and have more or less copied the distinction which has been made in Britain between an alert'' and a more serious warning. Another novelty of the month of Sep tember was the use of Whirlwinds carrying bombs. Some Results TT has to be admitted that bombing * in the West cannot immediately affect the number of German bombers used on the Eastern front, but it must have an effect in the long run, and it certainly keeps German fighters, as well as all the men needed for an elaborate defence system, tied down in the West when they would otherwise go to in crease the forces used against the Rus sians. The raids by day and night carried out by Fighter Command give additional reasons why the Germans must keep a strong force of Focke- Wulfs and Messerschmitts in the West. The Middle East has put up a fine record in the autumn. The Allied air forces raided Tobruk on 95 nights out of the first hundred since the place fell into the hands of the Axis. In these raids 4,000 tons of bombs were dropped and caused great havoc among the shipping in the harbour. Of course Benghazi also came in for lots „,,.„- ^,T»TC **. •. , u ( .. .- b . , . , , TRAINED GUNS : Three photographs of attention, and ships en route lor . ?*™?~T. •. . .r. *"**,7*7. ... , , , 1 , - taken by the synchronised cine-camera Africa were regularly harried by air- as a polish fighter pilot made a cannon, craft as well as by submarines. During attack on a goods train in Northern September 40 Axis vessels, including France,
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