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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0306.PDF
158 FLIGHT FEBRUARY IOTH, 1944 C Behind the Lines Sabotage Service and Industrial Berlin News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy' occupied Countries THE Adler automobile factory in Copenhagen was destroyed by explo sives and incendiary bombs. Five saboteurs armed with revolvers carried out this action. Defence of Oil A PRIVATE report from Budapest states that the Germans have sent to Ploesti special troops, including sappers, whose main task will be to de fend the oil wells and blow them up should the Germans be unable to hold them. Trying Hard GERMAN aircraft workers are now working n^-hour shifts in factories producing fighters. This was revealed by the German front reporter Heinz Riek in a radio interview with one of the .workers in a factory, says Reuter. The worker, whose voice resembled that of an old man, said: " I have been working in this industry for five years. Our work commences at seven in the morning and goes on until half-past six at night." A German Alloy A NEW aluminium alloy, says the D.N.B., has appeared on the market under the name of " Hydron- alium." It combines the advan tages of a low specific gravity and a high degree of strength with suffi cient resistance to corrosion. This is shown not only in the case of sea water but also of soda and soap solutions, its resistance to which is considerably greater than that of pure aluminium and even than that of the formerly much- used aluminium alloys with copper and silicon. The new material is available in alloys suitable for pressing, forging, riveting and casting, as well as in metal sheets. As the metal sheets can be welded, entire motor-boats are already said to be manufactured by this process. Drang nach Osten IT is reported that 500,000 German evacuees from Berlin have been sent to Western Poland, many of them to Poznan. Fokker ACCORDING to an announcement of the Dutch Fokker aircraft factory, the dividend paid out to their share holders for 1942 is the same as that paid out for 1941. Competition DURING a special competition week organised for their staff by the Junkers concern under the slogan "We improve further," the firm has received 312 proposals for different improve ments. Of these, 106 applied to tools and equipment, 60 to aircraft parts, 38 to finishing processes, 28 to labour and 23 to organisation problems. 174 of the proposals received were passed as suit able for practical adaptation. Another competition, under the slogan "Simpler and Quicker," produced 4,600 proposals, of which 27 per cent, were actually put into practice. The aircraft industry is also reported to have adopted a thorough system of interchange of experience. At Junkers all useful improvements in tooling, equipment, processing and personnel training are recorded in detail, collected in a special file under the heading '' Special Production Methods '' and are then circulated. THE German-controlled Scandinavian Telegram Bureau reports that fol lowing the latest R.A.F. raid Berliners were given extra cigarettes, coffee, butter, meat and bread rations. The Berlin authorities, it said, have issued notice to workers saying that re porting for duty after a raid was not an act of heroism as time off can only be granted in most urgent cases. Traffic difficulties, resulting in slow journeys to work, are not an acceptable excuse for arriving late, it was added. From the Luftwaffe TWO of Germany's night fighter aces were reported by the German radio to have been killed in action, says Reuter. They were Col. Manfred Neurer, credited with 64 night fighter actions, and his radio operator, Sgt. Gerhard Scheibe, who respectively held the Oat Leaves and the Knight's Insignia of fcijjip Iron Cross. Another announcement said that Major Brandeis, who is credited with 180 air victories, has been killed on the Eastern front. German Tactics n^RANSOCEAN announced the follow -*• ing details about the new German night-fighter methods, which have been developed by the successful night-fighter pilot. Col. (? Hermann). It is known that German night-fighter units formerly mainly used twin-engined multi-seater aircraft which operated in certain night- fighting areas. The method of Col. (? Hermann), which endeavours to make night-fighting more elastic, consists in using single-seater fighters such as have been used up to now for day fighting. The use of these aircraft of course meets with difficulties because there is no radio operator aboard to attend to navigation. But, thanks to technical inventions, it has been possible to overcome these handicaps, and the new tactics have be come very effective. These independently working singft^w seater fighters receive their directions from the ground base when attacking the enemy. They are used wherever British night bombers are flying and also over the targets of the enemy aircraft. These fast single-seater fighters are thus able to use their daytime tactics. The successes of this night-fighting method were so surprisingly great—says Transocean—that they were developed more and more. "Lately a larger per centage of the aircraft shot down has been credited to the new method. The effect of the improved German night- fighting tactics is shown in the fact that the defence has succeeded in splitting up the British night bomber formations > and depriving them of their dangerous concentrated effect. It seems justifiable to measure the success of air defence in this way, too, and not only by the number of aircraft shot down. When an intended attack is split up in such a^ manner that a consideraTble number JH bombs are dropped on open fields in stead of on inhabited areas, this is a result which is equal to shooting down some more bombers." ITALIAN TET-PROPULSION : The Caproni-Campini inspected by the Hungarian Military Mission at Guidonia. In November, 1941, the machine flew in 2| hours -from Milan to Rom^. The average speed was 130 m.p.h. including stop at Pisa of unspecified duration.
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