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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2036.PDF
190 AUGUST 19TH, 1943 WAR IN THE AIR of outflanking movements. That was the trouble from which the defenders of Malaya suffered when the Japaness commanded the sea and were very superior in the air. In Sicily the posi- tion is reversed,* and the Allies have benefited from it.' An Axis Problem TN the meantime something like a -*• Dunkerque evacuation on a small scale began. The Germans and Italians massed boats and barges in the neigh- bourhood of the straits, and began to take some men away by night. By day the Allied Air Forces and warships took considerable toll of these cralt, and by night, too, some of them were discovered and dealt with. On August 12th Air Vice-Marshal Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd, who commands the Coastal Air Force of North Africa, stated that for several days previously no enemy supply shipping had attempted to run to Sicily, and that the enemy on the island was getting short of supplies, as he had done in the last phases of the Tunisian campaign. In fact, the Axis had a pretty problem to decide between getting stuff in and getting important men out, while both opera- tions were extremely difficult. The only point in its favour was the narrowness of the Straits. Following the plan of disrupting communications in Italy, Fortresses attacked the railway junction of Terni, some 40 miles to the north of Rome, through which trains could get be- tween northern and southern Italy 'without passing through the yards at Rome, which were so heavily blitzed not long ago. Deeper Into Germany TDOMBER COMMAND has been tak- -*-' ing advantage of the lengthening nights to press further into Germany than was feasible during the height of the summer. The ending of - British ' Double Summer Time is a matter of regret to many Britons who believe in the old adage about "early to bed and early to rise," but it has a far more poignant meaning for factory workers in the cities of western Germany. While the Navy was shelling in the Gulf of Naples, heavy bombers were making their way to the city of Mannheim- Ludwigshafen, where there are large chemical works. The place is also an important inland port. On the same night Mosquitoes visited the Ruhr, and the cost of the whole night's work was no more than nine British bombers. Next night Nuremberg was the target, which meant a round flight of over 1,100 miles. There are (or were) many targets of military import- ance in the place, but 1,500 tons of bombs must have reduced their im- portance to no small degree. On this occasion the R.A.F. loss was 16 AERIAL INVASION : (Top) British airborne iroops getting ready to be taken over and dropped in Sicily. (Bottom) Standing by their Hadrian (CG4A) glider and watching other gliders take the air. When Hadrian last landed in Sicily in A.D. 126 he was on his way to Rome ! machines, and that is a low proportion for a heavy raid. It is not very much further to Ber- lin than it is to Nuremberg. A cer- tain degree of evacuation has been ordered from the German capital. At first the enemy tried to keep that fact secret, and dropped on a Swedish journalist who tried to report it, but since then the Germans have admitted it themselves. It is said that Berliners maintain their moral well when they hear of devastation in Essen and Ham- burg, so long as their own lives are not involved. Their sang froid may not last much longer. The Oil Question HPHE recent raid by Liberators of the -*- U.S. Army Ninth Air Force in the Middle East has been mentioned in Flight already. One R.A.F. officer, Sqn.' Ldr. G. C. Barwell, D.F.C., accompanied the Liberators, and on his return to London he gave a vivid account of the splendid flying, discip- line and heroism of the American air- crews. The damage to the oil stores and refineries was undoubtedly heavy, though the wells themselves are still able to produce the precious liquid. The supplies now reaching Germany must be severely cut down for the present, though it would certainly b^ an exaggeration to say that this ond raid has struck a crippling blow. The curtailment to an appreciable extent of the oil supplies from Rumania would obviously increase the value which the Germans place on the works which produce synthetic oil from coal. The Allied High Command was not slow to see what the next step ought to be, and accordingly on August 12th the U.S. Eighth Air Force, stationed in Britain, followed up the lead of its fellow Air Force in Egypt by making a daylight attack on the synthetic oil factories at Gelsen- kirchen and Wesseling, in the Ruhr. The Fortresses flew at the greatest height yet used by machines of that type in the present war, but even so the flak was so heavy that one crew described it as "a black umbrella over Happy Valley." However high aircraft may fly, guns can be made which will be able to send shells up to the same height, though it may also be accepted as a principle that the greater the range the harder it must be to score hits. That principle ap- plies to bomb-aiming as well as to A.A. fire, and that was why the Liberators flew as low as possible over Ploesti. After all the risks of an un-
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