FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1656.PDF
668 FLIGHT JUNE 241H, 1943 Book Reviews Astronomical tAir Navigation, by Sqn. Ldr. R. Hadinghaiu.The Technical Press, Ltd. 10s. PROVIDING a complete course in astro-navigation for prac-tical navigators, only essential references to the mathe- matical and theoretical aspect of the subject are included, theauthor's*very reasonable assumption being that few aircrew members will have time to study the less practical methods by•which the technique may be applied, involving, for instance, spherical trigonometry, which are of interest only to a fewspecialists. Aircraft Nai'j^tilion, bv H. Stewart and A. Xich.ols. Cam- bridge University Press. 5s.N O attempt nas been made in this book to cover more than the first steps in the various branches of the subject, the authors' sole aim being to give a concise introduction to the science. It includes a chap+ef -cm- star identification, 'and accompanying the book in a separate .envelope is- a plotting chart and an ivorine circular slide rule lor use with the prac- tical exercises which, incidentally, the student is asked not to regard as mere tedious labour; continued and varied practice is the only way to proficienc ' in navigation. General Science, by I. R. Tesselo, B.Sc. HulchinsOJi's. 2s. (id.T HIS is the first little book in the publishers' "Complete Air Training Course" series, and will lie very useful to embryo airmen who have forgotten much of the physics they learnt at school. The author points out that the work of the airman, whether on the ground or in the air, is based on that of the scientist, and he therefore needs a thorough grasp of the foundations underlying the practice of his future trade or profession in aviation. Mechanics, heat, light, and sound are. all treated generally, and scientific principles which are applied to aircraft and their instruments are simply explained without too much detail or mathematics in order to provide the essential background for the other subjects which form part of the air training course. " Synthetic Resins and Allied Plastics " (Second Edition). Edited by R. S. Morrell. Humphrey Milliard, Oxford University Press. Price 35A. net. "T^HE rapid development and uses of synthetic resins and -»- plastics during the past six years has necessitated the second edition of this work. The authors, increased in num- ber, are prominent experts in the plastics industry and have co-operated to give an authoritative representation of the chief sections of the synthetic resins and allied plastics at present being used. In this respect they have been most successful and the work is, without doubt, one of the best so far available?" t The aircraft engineer, designer and draughtsman who desire a first-hand work of reference on this subject, and the tech- nique involved in the injection moulding and laminated plastic processes, will find this volume a valuable contribution to their library. numbers' Battle. By a Wing (Ciiiniander, with a foreword by Air Marsha! Sir Arthur Harris. Gerald Duckworth and Co., Ltd. 10s. 6<7. net.T HIS is a most readable book, and as it has been blessed in a Foreword by the A,O.C.-in-C, Bomber Command, the general reader may accept it as an authentic account of the subject treated. It traces the history of how Bomber Command has developed during the first three years of the war. The writer explains many of the difficulties with which the .Com- mand lias had to grapple. He lays great stress on the difficul- ties, and Sir Arthur Harris agrees that bombing is among the most difficult of military operations. ' The story of the gradual development is enlivened (though perhaps that is hardly the correct word) by numerous stories of the adventures of bomber crews told in detail, while par- ticular operations, such*as the attacks on the Scharnhotst and Gneisenau, are also dealt with at considerable length. The value of the book is greatly enhanced by the sane and reasonable frame of mind displayed by the author. He is a convinced believer in strategic bombing, but he is no wild fanatic to cry out that if only Britain drops all ot10k activities and concentrates all her energies on this' one form of warfare Germany will speedily be beaten to her knees. On the con- trary, he sums up the problem calmly and judiciously, as some quotations from his closing chapter show. "I suppose," he writes, "the final proof of the efficacy of strategic bombing can come only when the enemy goes into battle deficient in some weapon which we knew he would have had if the factory in which it was made had not been destroyed. TheTe is no such proof at the moment, and it could not be expected ; the enemy has immense reserve stocks both of weapons and raw materials, and the damage done in the campaign of 1942 cannot be expected to result in an imme- diate deficiency of any of the most vital weapons or war material. ... So the jcampaign of 1942 has answered the question: Can we destroy the German war industries by bomb- ing them ? But it has not yet answered the question: Will such destruction of her war industries, defeat Germany? . . . What has happened so far proves—and I do not think that this was proved before the campaign of 1942—that if given numbers, we can win the race." The race, of course, is between the rate of destruction by our bombers and Germany's ability to produce in spite of that destruction. The author concludes: "It is permissible, on the basis of photographic evidence of damage and of the thorough study of the German economic organisation that has lately been made, to believe that a force three or four times the size of that used in 19.52 would have proved lethal." But we must still ask whether such a force could have destroyed the reserve stocks as well as all the factories. If not, its lethal effect would not have bee,n pioduced until all the reserves had been exhausted. We may not be too optimistic if we hope that even before those stocks are exhausted the Xavv, the Army, and the Tactical Air Force, plus cur Allies, will have won the war. " Fiightm photofirapk. IN PROFILE: A North American Mitchell (B25C) at a British terminal airport after having flown the Atlantic from Newfoundland. Mitchells have been extensively used by both the U.S.A.A.F. and R.A.F. in North Africa.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
