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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2111.PDF
AUGUST t £6TH, 1943 FLIGHT 235 THEORIES OF AIR POWER naval vessels and aircraft. At the end of the Sicilian cam- paign the Straits of Messina were too narrow to be block- aded. The happy mean was found at the end of the Tunisian campaign, when the Axis troops could not get away by sea and were captured almost intact. It seems to us that Gen. Sorensen's conclusion that the absence (as he alleges) of strategic bombing was the cause of the British retreat to Alamein over-simplifies a complex matter. Air Targets A most interesting section of Gen. Sorensen's address is that in which he analyses the strategic objects at which the use of heavy bombers ought to be directed. In effect, he asks whether the attack ought to be directed against public moral or against military targets, and, as one would expect, he comes down heavily on the side of the military targets. He quotes words written by Mr. Churchill in 1917 which prophetically denied that terror-bombing alone could force a major nation to its knees. He might well have quoted Marshal Foch, who some years later expressed the same opinion. He charges Qermany with disregarding f kjs principle during the Battle of Britain and the subse- tJK-nt blitz by night. "If she had been using super-long range cannon to deliver the projectiles," he said, " German tacticians would have insisted, in the interests of efficiency, that the guns be aimed at specific factories, docks and other vitals." Britain of 1943, he says, is proof that'Mr. Churchill in 1917 was right. The motto which Gen. Sorensen holds should guide a bomber force is "economy of effort," and he claims that that motto has for long past inspired the American Air Forces and been the basis for their planning of equipment and technique. We may, we believe, fairly conclude that he meant the American way of bombing by day, using remarkably accurate bomb-sights. It has also been claimed by Gen. Eaker that this method makes for economy, because each bomb produces the maximum effect on the target. Few fall outside it, and the damage to civilians is reduced to an absolute minimum. So far from attempting to strike at civilian moral, the Americans claim it as a merit of their method that very few civilians suffer harm fr§na it. ""in the same way, it has always been the avowed policy of the British Air Staff to strike at military objectives and not at civilian moral. Whereas German pilots have on innumerable occasions machine-gunned civilians in streets and refugees on roads, the British authorities (and the Americans as well) have broadcast warnings to the people in places liable to air attack. These warnings have mainly been addressed to people in friendly territories overrun by the Germans, and it is much to be feared that they were not always able to defy their German taskmasters and take the advice to clear out. There have, however, been warnings to some cities in Italy, and probably they have produced some effect, though the actual- fall of the bombs produced much more. One cannot help the query arising in one's mind whether Gen. Sorensen would, or would not, condemn the methods of R.A.F. Bomber Command as infringing his principle of economy of effort. Early in the war the claim was made that British night-bombers could hit individual buildings, factories and suchlike without laying waste the neighbourhood. Of late, however, the practice of areav bombing has avowedly been adopted. It is by no means a policy of terror-bombing, but it accepts as a regrettable necessity that civilians in the neighbourhood must in- evitably suffer. Years ago Flight set forth the doctrine that a bomb "Svhich kills only civilians is a good bomb wasted, and we seem to remember that Mr. Churchill, in the days when he was a voice calling in the wilderness of an apathetic House of Commons, used almost the same words. They are another way of urging economy of effort. At any rate, we British, not being Huns, have no desire at all to kill enemy civilians, though we cannot allow immunity to them at the cost of sparing war factories. British and Americans share the same sentiments as regards the use of bombers, though their methods may differ. Both are agreed that the German ideas-and prac- tices are ideally wrong and practically ineffective. Bombing Stages Gen. Sorensen concludes his paper by mapping out four stages of strategic bombing, the third being the one "in which we really get down to the business of knock ing out the heart of enemy production capacity." The fourth is a clearing-up process. In each of the three first he admits that "there will generally be but little evidence in the front lines of the real effect of strategic bombing." From this we conclude that he allows for the enemy's fore- sight in having built up a huge reserve of weapons before making war, and that in the early stages of the war he has been able to replace wastage and even increase those reserves. That, we believe, is what the Germans have done, though their need for fighter aircraft has outrun their calculations and provision. The General's address concludes with the remark: "The invasion should start when to delay longer would waste effort, but when its cost has been reduced to a minimum." That seems to imply that the moment for invading Ger- many should be related mainly or entirely to the results of the strategic bombing campaign. We submit that other factors need consideration. In the case of this war, the chief drain on German fighting power has been effected by the Russian Army, and the moment for invading Ger- many must be the earliest possible, so as to bring relief to the Russians. We must hope that when we do invade we may find that our bombing offensive will have deprived the enemy of some of the weapons and materials which he needs. DEATH OF DR- JOSEPH AMES WITH the death at Baltimore, Md., on June 24th, of Dr.Joseph Ames, aeronautical science has lost one of its most illustrious figures. Dr. Ames, who would have been79 years old on July 3rd, was an eminent physicist with a distinguished career lasting close upon half a century. He wasat one time president of the John Hopkins University, but it is as an aeronautical sesearch worker that we in GreatBritain know and appreciate him best. Dr. Joseph Sweetman Ames was chairman of the AmericanNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1927 to 1939. He was a member of the N.A.C.A. from 1915 to 194 *>having to resign the chairmanship in 1939 on account of failing health. He was appointed to the N.A.C.A. by PresidentWilson in 1915, and served, in addition to his N.A.C.A. chair- manship, on more than twenty sub-committees without pay.The aeronautical research laboratory at Moffett Field, Cali- fornia, was named after him. Many were the honours bestowed on this modest and un-assuming research worker. " In 1923 Dr. Ames read the Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture before the Royal AeronauticalSociety. In that he dealt with the relation between aero- nautical research and aircraft design, a subject which is par-ticularly topical at the present time, when the problem of ensuring the production of the best possible aircraft after thewar is being widely discussed. Reference has frequently been made of late to the wonderfulaeronautical research being done in America. That this is pro- ceeding along sound and fruitful lines is due in no small degreeto the pioneer work done by Dr. Joseph Ames. Gas Turbines and Jet Propulsion for Aircraft By C. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. A second edition of the above booklet is now available from " Flight " publishing offices. The new work consists of ten chapters and includes many illustrations. Price 3/6 plus 3d. post.
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