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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0428.PDF
220 WAR IN THE AIR heavy weapons whu'h were so im portant to tlie German armies in Russia Whether those armies have already suffered from shortage of weapons cannot be said ; but probably there has not been lime lor the results of the Ruhr battle t;> make themselves felt. There is always a .reserve of weapons on which an airny can draw, and the output of factories goes to that reserve before reaching the battle zone. It is admitted by Air Force authorities that attacks on production do not affect the battlefields for some months. At any rate it was undoubtedly neces sary to cripple the Ruhr as soon as possible, and aircraft factories had to wait their turn. The ELS. Effort "PHEN the American Army Air -*- Forces in Europe began to reach formidable sizes, and at the same time the progress of the war made it expedient to single out German fighter factories for attack, delivered with the deadly precision bombing on which the Americans have specialised. There have been many such attacks, but a double assault from north and south was a novelty. On Feb. 22nd the 8th Air Force sent strong forces against the Junkers assembly plant at Bernburg, and other airframe works at Halberstadt and Aschersle- ben, while the 35th in the Mediter- ean sent up heavy bombers against iess^lesserschmitt log factory at rrg. These simultaneous rmld confuse and scatter the ifighters. Still, $he total Can losses were ^fi-b^mbers and ) 1 lighters! Thev>J«1rri that 133 Ger man fightfrs^r^re shot down, and in lays of which the 22nd was 2rican machines shot down »y fighters. That must in it- nasty loss to the Luftwaffe, iat loss must be added the un - 3 . SWEPT A Ju 52 magnetic-mine sweeper as it was shot into the sea off Lorient by two Typhoons of a Southern Rhodesia squadron. known number of aircraft which it would have received from the factories if they had not been damaged. The Germans have not only massed their fighters in the West. The threat of invasion has forced them to bring numbers of bomber squadrons there too. , These have been filling in their time with reprisal raids on London and the Home Counties. They have been trying to copy some R.A.F. devices, dropping strips of special paper with metal on one side, to confuse our radiolocation. The R.A.F. has used this device for over a year. The Ger mans are also groping after Path finder methods, but have not yet achieved much success with them. No definite plan for their bombing has been discernible, but the aircrews have seemed in a hurry to get their job done and clear off before British night- fighters got on their tracks. The bar rage put up by the London guns was terrific. ONE TO THE ENEMY Two amazing photographs showing a Marauder falling to earth after having been broken in halves by anti-aircraft fire. Another Pacific Advance A DMIRAL N1MITZ is not a man •^ who is given to wasting time. He presses blow on blow. Last week his surprising attack on Truk was re corded. This week he has sent a naval force with carriers still nearer to Nippon, and has bombarded. the Marianne or Ladrone group of islands, which includes the American base of Guam. The contingent of the U.S. Pacific Fleet which made the expedi tion was a strong one, for Admiral Nimitz never makes the' mistake of sending a boy to do a man's work. Having got superior strength he applies it, which is one of the main principles of war, whether by sea or land or in the air. The task force on this occasion, as in the attack on Truk, included several hundred car rier-based aircraft. The first two islands attacked were named Saipan/*' and Tinian. The operations are going on, and more news may be published at any moment; but all naval opera tions call for a period of wireless silence. When the present Prime Minister was First Lord of the Admiralty, he told the House of Commons that when sailors were fighting they became so intent on the business that they some times forgot to report (this was on an occasion when a report would pre sumably have been legitimate) and that this tendency caused inconveni ence to the Admiralty. If their Lord ships are thus sometimes left in the dark, men in the street must not com plain if they have to wait for news of a victory. All these Pacific islands are a very long way from Nippon, and, as on% American commander has said, in the Pacific the main enemy is not the Japanese but distance. None the less, it is very encouraging to the United Nations to learn of the American
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