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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0691.PDF
.KCII I8TH, 1943 FLIGHT 275 ENEMY AIR LOSSES to MARCH 13th Over G Mar. 7 8 9 10 II " 12 ;; 13 Totals : 5 0 3 0 8 6 . 4 26 Wett Over B. Continent 0 6 4| 3 7 4 , 25" Middle East 1 1 0 0 0 1 - 0 3 6,711 ; Middl* East, over 5,249 ; Tunitii, 808. in May, 1940, or when he sent bombers and fighters to try to wreck Britain during the great air onslaught by the Luftwaffe later in the year. Per- haps he had been deceived by British weakness at the time of his invasion of Abyssinia, when our Bulldogs were hardly up to the standard of the best Italian fighters—but he has learnt now that it is always a risky business to twist the lion's tail. Many braggarts have had to learn that lesson—to their cost. The German assault on Kharkov has brought news of air activity, for it has been stated that air bombard- ment of the Russian city, so lately delivered from the brutal German occupation, has been incessant. The inference is that, at any rate for the first days of the attack, the Russian fighters were unable to prevent the bombing and that the Germans held superiority in the air. They are clever at massing their squadrons so as to gain temporary superiority at some critical point, even when they are in- ferior over the whole zone of war. Development in the West TWO raids by Bomber Command on *• Essen are regarded as the heaviest blows yet struck at the German war industries. They were not made with- out some loss of R.A.F. heavy bombers—but it is an old maxim of warfare that vou cannot make an CLOSE SHAVE : A Lockheed Hudson, piloted by a Dutch sergeant, after it hadcollided with another aircraft while over the target. omelet without breaking eggs. Look- ing at the losses from the point of view of machines, Bomber Command can afford the losses for such a profit- able result. The losses in men are less than those incurred in many a minor land engagement in the African cam- paigns, though many of the soldiers killed or taken prisoners are less highly trained men than the air crews of Bomber Command. All losses in war mean tragedies to homes and families somewhere in the Empire, but the Air Ministry method of announc- ing losses day by day brings home lo British people the R.A.F. losses in a specially poignant manner. The more wholesale casualty lists which the War Office and the Admiralty publish at intervals do not make quite the same impression on the man in the street. We must all turn our thoughts to the tremendous interruption of work in Krupps' armament factories, and re- member that in consequence some German troops, in Russia or in Tunisia, may presently find themselves short of some weapons, and so will be unable to kill Allied soldiers on those BRITISH & U.S. AIR LOSSES to MARCH 13th Mar Over G.B. A'crft. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Over Continent B'brs. 2 8 12 0 II 24 3 60 F'trs. 0 3 0 0 3 0 6 12 Middle East A'crft. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals : West, 5,411 ; Middle East, about 2,086 ; Tunisia, 337. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE : With the North African mountains in the back- ground, a N.A. B25 (Mitchell) of the U.S.A.A F. goes on a shipping hunt over the Mediterranean. fronts who would otherwise have had to lose their lives. It has been announced that for some months past the versatile Hurricane has been converted into a '' tank- buster" in the African fighting. There has been talk about the possibilities of such a class of aircraft for a long-time past, and it is very welcome news to hear that it has actually been in action. On the whole, it is as well that the pilots who have used it make no exaggerated claims about its effect. None the less, they seem to have put a number of enemy tanks out of action, and even a temporary stoppage of a number of enemy tanks may make all the difference to the result of a battle. The Americans in ttie S.W. Pacific have spotted another Japanese convoy on the way to New Guinea, and have started to attack it from the air in their usual fashion. It was only a rather small convoy this time, five merchant ships with an escort of three destroyers. The first attack by Fortresses claimed hits on one merchant ship of 8,000 tons and another of half that size. The second attack claimed hits on another of the transports and one of the destroyers. Fighter protection for the convoy was not mentioned, and the Japanese must be running rather short of carriers by this time. Perhaps they are chary pi risking their remaining carriers on escort duties for their con- voys. The raiding of enemy air bases in the islands goes steadily on, but the Japanese are still able to replace air- craft losses.
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