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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2403.PDF
OCTOBER 7TH, 1943 383 THE CROSS-CHANNEL SERVICE : One of the Mitchell bombers which have been taking a valuable part in the daylight raids on Western Europe touches down at its base in this country after a raid. Russian Air Force Honoured : Reported Raid on Constanza i Luftwaffe Inactive in Italy : Qerman Fighter Shortage THE capture by the Russiansof Kremenchug*, the strongGerman bridgehead on the left bank of the River Dnieper, has stirred Marshal Stalin to commend the section of the Red Air Fleet under a certain Lieutenant General. This is the first time that the Russian Air Force has been honoured in this way. It suffered *iuch in the early stages of the German Invasion of Russia, when it had to face superior numbers, and its pilots and air cfews sacrificed themselves heroically in a not unsuccessful attempt to prevent the invaders from securing definite air supremacy. Since then marvels have been per- formed. The output of aircraft has been multiplied. The training schools have turned out large numbers of pilots and air crews, and in recent months it has been reported every now and then that the Russians com- manded the air on one or another im- portant sector of the front. The ad- vance-of the Russian armies and the capture of railways and junctions has made it easier to move squadrons about behind the lines and to mass iheni at critical points, an advantage which for a long time lay with the Germans. KEEPING THEM FLYING : ThisThunderbolt, flown by Capt. G. John- son, of the U.S.A.A.F., is named>*• ihe Mood. Johnson has five enemy aircraft to his credit. Note the long-range tank under the fuselage. Independent action in the air has so far been only a minor preoccupa- tion oi the Russians, whose military thought is almost entirely concerned with land battles, to which the aircraft must contribute as a form of ancillary troops. Success in such operations depends on the fighters obtaining mastery over their opposite numbers, and so holding the enemy bombers in check and leaving the air sufficiently safe for their own bombers to de their proper work. The Russian success in this has been largely due to the energy with which the Royal Air Force in Britain has kept more than half the total fighter strength of the Luftwaffe pinned in the west. That has enormously simplified the work of the Russian fighters. However, the Germans have recently reported some independent action by Russian bombers, namely, a raid on the Rumanian port of Constanza, which, of course, they say was de- feated with loss to the Russians. That
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