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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2194.PDF
FLIGHT OCTOBER 22ND, 1942 gomery. Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm (we also pub lish an article on the work of that arm in this issue) work with the Air Force and the Army in Egypt, and with Coastal Command in northern waters. On page 437 appears a photograph of an aircraft of Bomber Com mand sinking a U-boat, and this machine had been lent by Bomber Command to Coastal Command; while on another page the training of Army glider pilots by R.A.F. instructors is illustrated. The heads of all Ser vices are agreed that final victory must be won not by a single Service, but by all three in unison, and confi dence can now be felt that there is no danger of one upsetting the whole plan of campaign by " playing for its average " and not for the victory of its side. The Raid on Le Creusot N OTHING, perhaps, is better for the fighting spirit of a force than friendly emulation between corps or individuals in it. British and • American bombers are the best of friends, and now they are trying to outvie each other in damaging the enemy's war effort. The American Army Air Force only the other day put up what was quite an amazing feat of daylight bombing over Lille. Bomber Command of the R.A.F. has always worked by night when it used large formations of air craft, but none the less one can imagine the Command saying to its collective self: "The Americans (gallant fellows!) can bomb by day, can they? Well, we'll show them that we can do it, too/' And Bomber Command has certainly showed that it could. Apart from the fact of daylight, and the roughly equal CONTENTS The Outlook - War in the Air Here and There Aircraft Propulsion Systems Work of the Fleet Air Arm Behind the Lines - Aircraft Characteristics Battle Area Air Organisation B.O.A. in Portugal In Parliament - • - Correspondence Aircraft for the Middle East Service Aviation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 444, . - - - - - - 433 435 438 439 442 444 a and b 445 449 450 45i 452 454 number of machines sent out, the raids on Lille and Le Creusot were different in almost every respect. The former had an escort of some 500 fighters, though it hardly owed its success to them ; the Lancaster raid was unescorted. The Americans flew high ; the Lancasters kept,as low as they could. The former raid can hardly have come as a surprise to the enemy; the latter cer- i tainly did so. They were alike in that both showed equal enterprise and gallantry, and each met with com plete success. The Lancasters met with three Arado seaplanes, evi dently on their way in, and that suggests that they made their landfall from the West. If that speculation is correct, it would account in great measure for the sur prise which was achieved. The German defences were caught napping, and the tactics of flying low would help in taking them unawares. The only Lancaster lost may have been brought down by debris thrown up by its own bombs.. The raid must have been a shock to the Germans, who will now be wondering what unpleasant surprise Air Chief Marshal Harris will next spring upon them. Of course, a surprise cannot always be brought off, and it would be folly to try the same thing over again. For the present it may be taken that Bomber Command will specialise on night bombing, while the Americans will do most of the concentrated work by day. It will be a fair division of labour, and should result in an all-round- the-clock attack on the German war effort both in Germany itself and in the occupied countries. ______ ^ New Appointments WITH the approval of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Aircraft Production has appointed Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfrid Freeman, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., to be chief executive "•it the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Under the Minister he will co-ordinate and direct the production and the research and development sides of the Department. On taking up his new appointment, Sir Wilfrid Freeman has retired from the Royal Air Force and from the Air Council, and the King has been pleased to approve his promotion to G.C.B. (Military Division) in the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in recognition of his outstanding services. The Secretarv of State for Air has appointed Air Vice-Marshal C. E. H. Medhurst, C.B., O.B.E., M.C.. Assistant Chief of Air Staff Intelligence to act temporarily as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, and has further appointed him to be an additional Member of the Air Council while serving in that capacity. We understand that Sir Roy Fedden, chief engineer of the engine department of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., has relinquished his position with that firm.
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