FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0660.PDF
344 FLIGHT MARCH 30TH, 1044 Behind the Lines Spanish Blues FIGHTER pilots, members of the Spanish Blue Legion serving with the Luftwaffe, were recently sent as Goering's guests to an Austrian winter resort to recuperate from the trials of the Russian front. Surprise BOMB-HARASSED German workers woke up on the 16th of this month to find a new ukase of their beneficent Government: the morning papers told them that henceforth working hours lost during air raids and alerts must be made up to prevent a decline in German indus trial production. Moreover, such work continuing beyond the ordinary working hours will not be considered overtime and will not be paid as such. Another Version T A SUISSE published this entirely J—* unconfirmed report from the German frontier: "We have received this report of the new German weapon used over London. It is a high-altitude aircraft flying at a height of about nine miles with ability to dive to about four miles and drop several types of bombs, of which one develops inflammable gases whose effect is greater than the R.A.F.'s incendiaries." Expecting J APANESE air-raid defence headquarters have passed regulations aimed at speeding up air-raid precautions, particularly in the four northern districts of Kiushiu, most southerly of the main Japanese islands," said Tokyo radio, quoted by Reuter. " A.R.P. works scheduled for completion dur ing the year must be com pleted by June. To ensure this, extensive use must be made of all materials not urgently needed for other construction work. Water supplies and communications between towns and villages must also be improved as a defensive measure." Service and Industrial News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy* occupied Countries Explanation No. 1— ALARMED Germans asking where are all those aircraft which Dr. Goebbels told them the increased aircraft produc tion and satisfactory man-power have produced, were given this somewhat dis appointing answer by a German- controlled newspaper: "The demands of the Reich's air defence, with its great need of both day and night fighters, are met before those of other fronts. "Then, in order to be prepared for a possible invasion, a large reserve of air craft has been set up in the west which has not yet been used. Finally, part of the production capacity is taken up by bombers for reprisals. "The shortage of aircraft which is occasionally noticed may also have resulted from the fact that entirety new types have been developed. "It has been possible to observe," says the newspaper, '' that the Anglo- American air attacks against the German aircraft industry have not been able to cause an ultimate shortage because the losses suffered were always replaced by reserves produced by parallel plants." Dornler Do2l7J Fighter Impressed A GERMAN reporter who flew in a German bomber in a recent raid on London gave the following description of his experiences on the Berlin radio: " There is one thing all German crews flying to London know for certain—they will be plung ing into a devil's cauldron of defences which will call for (he last ounce of courage and skill from each man. Those tense few minutes of struggle against searchlights, flak and night fighters and of unspeak able confusion simply tear one's nerve to pieces." Span -62ft. 5ln. Two B.li.W. 801 engine of 1,580 h.p. each Length - - 56ft. 6in —And No. 2 "Part of the mystery so long sur rounding the whereabouts of the Luftwaffe lias now been cleared up," says the Mili- taerische Karrespondenz aus Deutsch- land. '' Certainly it will not be possible straight away to draw conclusions from the renewed activity in the west as to the actual strength of the Luftwaffe on this front. This will only become apparent when the attempt at a large- scale landing is made on the coast of Europe." The reason for the reopening of the air war against Britain on a large scale—says the article—seems to be that Luft waffe formations belonging to the anti- invasion forces must not always remain inactive. Until then it must always be assumed that only some of the forces appear, while the bulk of the anti- invasion Luftwaffe remains in readiness,^ New Fighter THE Hungarian newspaper, Uj Mag-yarsdg, describes a new two-engined destroyer aircraft said to be employed by the Germans against Allied raiders. According to this report the aircraft can climb to 33,000ft. and travel at 310 to 370 m.p.h. It is armed with two guns of fairly large calibre and four machine guns, and carries two automatic rifles in the rear which can be used for defence. Hairspring Tactics THE German Air Command has formed a special "'L' Command" headed by experienced officers drawn from the Richthofen Squads ron to direct the recent large- scale raids on London, accord ing to the Berlin correspon dent of the Swedish news paper Aftonbladet. Last summer "L" Com mand began studying methods of penetrating London's de fences, and to enable them to obtain information of the bar rage and fighter defences of the metropolis, special forma tions of Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf fighters were sent over on reconnaissance. One of their greatest problems was countering the blanket bar-» rage which British gumiers put up. Formerly the German bombers flew over the bar rage, but "L" Command dis covered it easier to fly just below the line where the shells burst, a manoeuvre they called '' hairspring tac tics." The new command is said to be using two new t -pes of bombers. " One is a large six- motored type evolved from the German 'Giant' trans port aircraft, the Mc 323, and the other is the double- fuselaged Heinkel He 219," says the report, "which pro duced a sensation in combat with British fighters over France." Four-engined Hein- kels are said to form, however, the main proportion of bomber squadrons which use an improved H.E. bomb.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
