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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2295.PDF
""•• •H AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IM THE WORLD .• FOUNDED w'09 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telejrams i Truditur, COVENTRY : 8-10, CORPORATION ST., Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. Sedist, London. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress. Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 : 260, DEANSGATE, 26B, RENFIELD ST., Telegrams: lliffe, Manchester. Ttlegrams: lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES No W67. Vol. XLII. Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper. November 5th, 1942. The Outlook. £1 10 6 3 months, 15s. 3d. Thursdays, One Shilling. The Fleet Air Arm in War yt N article on the problems and needs of the Fleet Air /~\ Arm appeared in our issue of October 22nd, and in this week's issue we publish a resume of a lecture delivered before the Royal United Services Insti tution on the war record of the same branch of the Royal Navy. The lecturer, Lt. G. R. M. Going, R.N., is a very gallant pilot, who came down in the Mediterranean just before the start of the attack on Taranto, but was picked up, dried, and was just in time to take off with his squadron. Afterwards he lost a leg, but now, to his great joy, he is back at sea again, though not able to serve in the air. All our readers, we believe, will agree that his lecture is extremely interesting, and the full text of it will appear, we understand, in due course in the Journal of the Institution. Lt. Going emphasised various points which the "Jfcefrlic would do well to bear in mind. One of these was that of the five aircraft carriers which the Navy has lost in this war only one (H.M.S. Hermes) was sunk by air action. He told us, what few of the public knew, that the Australian-built seaplane carrier Albatross has been out on submarine patrol during this war. From him we learnt that mine-laying from the air was an idea of the Admiralty, which Bomber Command has since adopted. In particular, he gave us all a good idea of the extraordinary varsatility of the Fairey Swordfish, but also showed that the type was over worked ; in fact, that it was sometimes worked to death. The Admiralty still finds the Swordfish indispensable for k certain tasks, though it admits that the type is now practically obsojete for Fleet actions. Incidentally, after the paper had been read, the lecturer revealed the interesting detail that the Bismarck was first spotted by a naval aircraft stationed in Scot land. This machine had been prepared for target towing and had hardly any equipment, yet it followed the Bismarck to the limit of its range. At the end of his lecture, Lt. Going made the claim that the Fleet Air Arm deserves the highest priority in choice of personnel, in training facilities on shore, and in the design and production of faster and more heavily armed aircraft. One can easily follow his train of reasoning, which we take to be as follows: The Royal Navy must remain supreme at sea, for otherwise the victory of the United Nations will be postponed until the United States is able to shoulder the whole burden— and in the meantime Britain would probably starve and might be invaded; the Royal Navy cannot maintain its supremacy without a first-class air arm; therefore the whole prospects of a British victory hang upon that arm. There is really no flaw in that argument, but still we cannot agree that it justifies a claim for such absolute priority. There are other essentials for victory, such as Fighter Command, whose failure would be disastrous. We must never forget big guns, which are essential for both Navy and Army, and there are other things, too. Priority, in fact, is a dangerously loose term. But everybody must agree that where the Fleet Air Arm feels itself short of the necessary best, the defici encies certainly ought to be made good. It deserves the best fighters and the best torpedo-aircraft which can possibly be produced by the aircraft industry. It would be a crying shame if the authorities responsible for such designs and supplies were to take up the attitude that the F.A.A. has done extremely well with material which was not quite first class, and its air crews can be trusted to go on doing so. The design of carrier-borne aircraft deserves as careful study in this country as it has received in the United States, and it is sincerely to be hoped that henceforth it will get it. B
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