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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2262.PDF
FLIGHT SEPTEMBER IOTH, 1943 AIRSCREWS most certainly appear. The first application is the fleet fighter, where the easier handling of such a machine by reason of the reduction in ''. swing '' makes the contra-prop an invaluable asset in taking-off, and more so when coming in to land on the restricted space of an aircraft carrier./ The second application is m the amphibian type of jtir- craft* where the. provision of six blades enables the dia- meter to be reduced to such an extent that the engine nacelle caa be situated nearer to the water than has hitherto been possible with the normal airscrew. This reduction in height to the nacelle from the water enables a much more clean and manoeuvrable machine to be designed, at the same time still keeping the airscrew tips sufficiently clear of the water to prevent damage by sea-spray during take-off, this being an obvious example of the machine being designed "around" the airscrew. Figh&rX Escort Carrying the Air War into EnevffljF&emory]: Comparison of Types and Armament E-COL. C. G. PETERSON, one,tim>Squadron of the R.A.F., and ndmander in the U.S. Army Eighth Command in Britain,^was recently " , * * »ng He has had extensive" eof Britain to the prese exploits on operabeen" awarded th Distinguished Servioand Distinguished Cross, and since transferringto the U.S.A.A.F. he \h_as received the American Divtinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart and Air Medal.He has twice qualified for the Caterpillar and GoldfishClubs, having baled out twice and landed in the sea on eachoccasion. It was not. Col. Petersonsaid, the fighter pilot's job to tell stories but to createthe stories for the Press to tell. During the whole con-ference he '' doodled '' studi- ously on his notes and equallystudiously avoided anything savouring of " line-shooting." In his opinion the day-and-night air attacks on targets in Northern France and Ger- many by the R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. constituted a majorattack on the Luftwaffe. The Germans considered Western Europe to be the most important air front. Turning to, the subject of daylight penetration in depth,Col. Peterson observed that seven months ago it looked a much bigger job than it does now. At that time it certainlyappeared that a force of bombers and fighters which attempted deep penetration was bound to be annihilated.This has been disproved. To use his own words, "I con- he Eagle s^der We have won a considerable victory in the last twooup com- aionths." Thunderbolts, he divulged, had escorted orce Fighter fortresses as far as the south-east of Paris and also to the"to the Press, /edge of the Ruhr. In the Paris raid the Thunderbolts :rom the Battle / destroyed no fewer than 17 enemy aircraft for the loss oftwafje. For his/ one Thunderbolt. For the month of August the score was / 87 aircraft destroyed, 14 probables and 35 damaged for aloss of 15 Thunderbolts and one pilot saved. The enemy aircraft shot down, included Fw 190s, Menos and severalMe2ios. We asked Col. Peterson whether, in view of the out-standing success of the Fortresses in shooting down fighters, he could foresee the day when fighters would be unneces-sary. His opinion was that there would always be a job for the fighters to do, if only to break up the enemy attacksbefore they got within shooting range. He did hot agree that the fighter personnel concerned would be more usefullyemployed in crewing more Fortresses. Since he had flown both types on operations, we askedCol. Peterson if he would compare the Spitfire and the Thunderbolt, both from the flying and the armament pointsof view. From the handling aspect, he said, there was nothing to choose between the two. Despite the muchgreater weight of the Thunderbolt, it was equal in manoeuvrability to the Spitfire. He emphasised, however,that, in addition to being a high-altitude fighter, it had a much longer range than the Spitfire. As regards thearmament, there were, of course, individual preferences for the 20mm. cannon or the 0.5m. machine guns, but both,he thought, were equally effective. Personally, he pre- ferred the Thunderbolt arrangement. Our final question to him dealt with the limiting of divingspeeds at high altitudes because of compressibility effects, which usually manifest themselves in the form of tailtrouble. He said that some trouble had been experienced with the Lightning but this did not apply to the Thtmder-bolt. It can therefore be presumed that the original tail troubles which the Republic company had with the XP 47Thunderbolt prototype have now been overcome. Lt Col. Peterson, D.S.O.,D.F.C. BOOK REVIEW Not Peace, but a Sword. By Wing Cdr. R. P. M. Gibbs, D.S.O.,D.S.C. Cassell and Co., Ltd. 10s. 6d. net. T*HIS is an intensely personal book by an author who passedthrough Cranwell with the idea that the R.A.F. was a flying club rather than a fighting Service. He was a manwho was nearly always discontented with his present lot, either looking back with regret on his last job (which he had notmuch liked when engaged on it), or looking forward to getting something else. This personal* outlook on the Service has theadvantage that the author tells his readers far more details which are interesting to know than many other writers contrive to do.It is part ol this subjective treatment of his subject that Wing Cdr. Gibbs is intensely critical of himself and his ownperformances. After each operation he discusses with his readers the reason for some failure, or comparative failure,and explains what he thinks he did wrong, either in flying his machine or in the tactics he employed. In fact, he almostcontrives to give the impression that" he was a fairly inefficient officer—an impression which is clearly contradicted by theinitials after his name. "Duds" are not made Companions of the Distinguished Service Order. Soon after leaving Cranwell the author was posted to CoastalCommand, rather to his annoyance, and then found himself in the Fleet Air Arm, to his intense disgust. Ultimately he gotinto a torpedo-bomber squadron, and, having learnt all about torpedo attacks with Swordfish (single-engined biplanes), hehad to start again and learn about Beauforts (twin-engined monoplanes). He found the latter very different from theformer to fly, and the whole scheme of tactics had to be altered and evolved anew. He boasts that it was his squadron jvhichset up the new standards. Of the Beauforts he wrote: "They were wonderful aircraftwith fine engines, and we loved them," but he also said that they were probably more difficult to fly than most types inthe R.A.F. One must always fly a Beaufort; never let it fly you. Torpedoes he found to be very tricky weapons, andit was all too easy to miss with them. Once, in hospital, he met a number of night-bomber pilots,who could not understand his preference for daylight opera- tions—for he disliked flying by night. He liked day and lotsof cloud cover. There are many types of pilot in the R.A.F., and this book gives a graphic picture of one type.
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