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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0794.PDF
4" WAR IN THE AIR ana Tamils are being trained rs ground crews for the Fleet Air Arm. Tamils are really natives of Madras, and that race provided the Sepoys of the old Madras Pioneer regiments and Corps of Sappers and Miners, who always held a high reputation for the quality ol their technical work. German Air Strength COME time ago it was announced *-* that during last year the Germans had contrived to increase the fighter strength cf the Luftwaffe by 1,000 first-line machines. It has since trans pired that in the five months from November to March an addition of some 250 fighters has been made. Some of these would be included in the figure of 1,000 for last year. Neither figure is to be taken just at its face value. For every increase of so many first-line machines, there must be a due proportion of immediate reserves in the squadrons. That is a necessity even in peacetime, as some machines and engines are regularly unservice able from slight accidents or through undergoing periodical overhauls. When war casualties are added, it is desir able to increase the proportion of reserves. / It sastf*friuch fo/the German effort increas/ should have been fface of the Anglo- rjn their fighter fac- se attacks, the in- less have been a good deal larger. Ultimately the ques- ^•GP^Wfcj down \4 what reserves can untamed i/ the depots. It is IhYre^that a sh/rtage will first take ptofce. The frorit line strength will be FLIGHT STOKING UP : Phosphorous incendiary bombs, dropped by the U.S.A.A.F., bursting on a Japanese occupied airfield at Rabaul, New Britain. These incendiaries and fragmentation bombs play havoc at dispersed points. kept up to scratch as long as possible, but when the depots have to issue machines to the squadrons faster than they can replenish the stocks from the factories, then the final defeat of the Luftwaffe will be near at hand. The latest transformation to appear in Northern Europe is a Spitfire bomber. It has won high praise from the Canadian pilots who first flew the type across the Channel. Hitler's "Fortress of Europe" is now being given visible and (so to speak) tangible evidence that it is sur rounded and besieged. While the Russians press on into Rumania and ABBREVIATED PIRATES : The Vought Sikorsky Corsairs in service with the Royal Navy have clipped wing-tips. This may be for aerodynamical reasons or from consideration of space on carrier lifts or head room in hangars Slovakia, the bombers of the other Allies have been flying in from West, North, and South to strike at muni tion factories and railway junctions which for the past four years must have thought themselves perfectly safe from any of the horrors of war. Those horrors, the people of Germany, Hun gary, and Rumania had been taught to believe, were reserved entirely for the opponents who were wicked enough and foolish enough to resist the might of Germany and her allies. ^ In 1940 few if any of the inhabitants of Hungary could have dreamed of British and American aircraft flying up from the Mediterranean area (and from Italian bases, of all unexpected places!) to bomb factories, airfields and railways at places rejoicing in such names as Tokol, Duna, Vecses, and Brod. Four years ago the workers in those factories and.railway junctions must have felt themselves as free from disturbance as the people of Berlin were in the last world war. The Bomber Offensive CTRIKING from Great Britain, v-' Bomber Command never tires ; and the U.S. Army Air Forces, which now actually outnumber the resources of Bomber Command in Britain, strike crippling blows day after day and force the Luftwaffe against its will to send up all the fighters it can muster to try vainly to hold off the raids. Perhaps the most surprising de velopment has been the part now played by the long-range fighter. One day last week a striking force of some 500 Fortresses and Liberators was accompanied by escorts of Mustangs, Lightnings, and Thunderbolts which totalled more than 1,1 oo» machines. Of course these were not all in action at the same time and place. An
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