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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0063.PDF
JANUARY I^TEI, 194J H~ FLIGHT 29 The dome and golden cross of St. Paul's Cathedral silhouetted against a cone of London *earchlig 1 WAR in the AlR A Crescendo of Day-bombing : Qerman ConseY> vation Policy : Why Not Ploesti Again .7 "I AST week there was another crescendo. The word is rather •*—' overworked nowadays, but it expresses a sudden output of furious attack more vividly than any other. This time it means day attack on mili- . tary targets in northern France, and, beginning with the New Year, that offensive created new records for sorties of light and medium bombers and fighter-bombers, sometimes with fighter escort and sometimes without it. If Hitler has any of his boasted "secret weapons" in that area, their lairs must have been as secret as their mechanism if they escaped the far- flung strafing of the Marauders, Typhoons, and other aircraft which raged over that part of France. The most interesting feature of the operations was the German reaction to the attack. Paradoxically, they re acted by displaying no reaction, and that is what is so interesting. Only occasionally were German fighters seen by the Allied airmen, but of reso lute defence there was no sign at all. It has repeatedly been mentioned in these columns that the enemy policy i£> now one of conservation in the matter of aircraft, and especially of fighters, but the crews of our heavy bombers know well that when a deep penetra-- tion is made into Germany by either night or day, the fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe will hurl themselvs against the raiders with abandon, showing both courage and skill. It follows that their passive submission to the Allied raiding of northern France must be a matter of deliberate policy. Either the lords of the Luftwaffe are reserving their fighter strength to resist only the deep penetrations and raids on vital targets, or they are building up with the idea of making the invasion of Europe as expensive as possible for the Allies. If the latter consideration is chiefly in their minds, it becomes obvious that they have been studying JAPANESE DESCENT : A Kawanishi 4-engined flying boat, known to the Americans as a Mavis, falling in flames- after an encounter with a Catalina and a Liberator.
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