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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0290.PDF
112 FLIGHT FEBRUARY 4TH, 1943 WA.R IN THE AIR as the chief enemy, and if the United States had followed the popular sen- timent, Britain might have been leit to herself to tackle Germany and Italy, while the bulk of American bombers and other warlike material was sent to General MacArthur in the South-West Pacific. It is evident that the rulers and staffs of the two coun- tries have agreed on the policy of beating the Germans first to " uncon- ditional surrender," while holding Japan at bay until the fullstrength of the United Nations can be brought to bear on her. Meantime, the building of warships, including carriers, goes on, and Japan will learn all about them in due course. Hitting the U-boat T ORIENT has been bombed again. •*-* These submarine bases cannot he hit too often. The U-boat is the last hope to which Hitler clings, and it must be hit wherever it can be found, and at all stages of its career. Mosquitoes carried on the good work by a daylight raid on diesel engine works in the ship- yards of Copenhagen, and the rear members of the echelon formation saw a sheet of flame coming from the diesel works where the bombs of the first machine had fallen. Good work! The Prime Minister prophesied not long ago that the war in Europe would probably be finished before that against Japan had reached a conclu- sion, and foresaw in that an advan- tage, in that the United Nations would remain united during the settling of European affairs, instead of tending to fly apart as happened at Versailles. While this remark confirms the idea that Allied strategy is to settle with Germany first, it does not mean that Japan is to be allowed to have things all her own way in the meantime. PACIFIC AGGRESSION : A Japanese Nakajima Navy G-97-2 torpedo bomberattacking American naval uirts at Santa Cruz. There are signs that -the Yellow Peril is massing forces for another at- tempt to break America's communica- tions with Australia, and possibly to invade Australia. Mr. Curtin, the Australian Premier, has sounded a note of warning, and the increased activity of Gen. MacArthur's bombers in the South-W^st Pacific shows that he is alive to the possible threat. Those bombers have been ranging more widely than ever since the re- conquest of Papua, and their raids have grown in frequency and inten- sity. We may be sure that the Pacific situation was not overlooked during the discussions at Casablanca. De- fence by bombers is a new form of warfare first practised from the Australian base, and it has served its purpose well. The time will come when sea power aided by the air will strike at the body of the Japanese octopus (to use Mr. Menzies' words), and then the tentacles will wither. While talking about Japan, mention should be made of the constant air attacks now being made on the enemy's communications in Burma. The waterways (the Irrawadi and other rivers) are the most important, and the railways come next. Both are constantly bombed by the R.A.F. and the Americans in India. Akyab port is a favourite target, and sam- pans on the waterways are constantly shot up by fighters. Most of the rail- way stock is north of the destroyed bridge at Sagaing (the destruction of that bridge was a good piece of work), and that simplifies the task of the Allied airmen. In recent attacks, com- prising a total operational period of 115 minutes, 11 locomotives, 83 trucks and other railway equipment have been put out of action. Bursting the Boilers '"THE same sort of thing has been -*- going on steadily in the occupied i f h E WING LOADING : R.A.F. ground crews use a captured Italian Saiman biplane to11«+ " for an official photographer. 'sit gg y countries of northern Europe. . tories are useless unless their products can be taken to the fighting fronts, and ever since May last the fighters and fighter - bombers from Great Britain (including the Mustangs of Army Co-operation Command) have, been making concentrated attacks oft railway engines, trucks, signal boxes and other things which contribute to railway transport. Of course, if this form of attack is to produce cny use- ful results it must be kept up without intermission over a long period. That has been done. In the past nin& months one Fighter Group, for example, has shot up over 400 engines That, of course, is only one example of the results achieved. The total1 must make a serious difference to the amount of stuff which the Germans can transport to Russia and elsewhere. During the blitz period in "the winter of 1940-41 great disappointment was felt at the failure of our searchlights to give effective aid to our defences. It was not the fault of the men who worked them ; it was a result of the
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