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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0905.PDF
MAY 4TH, 1944 FLIGHT V£AR IN THE AIR of the British public by an announce ment that either nation has sent out a force of 1,000 machines. For several days on end there was no important fighting on either the Italian or the Russian fronts.' It is perhaps legitimate to speculate that on both those fronts expectations are also tense ; and that when the news of the invasion in the West is made known all the fronts will flare up again, Reich Air Ministry Hit LAST Saturday a daylight raid by some 750 U.S. Fortresses and Liberators with a fighter escort of about the same strength was directed at Berlin. Thick cloud covered them for most of the way in, but over the city there was furious opposition by Luftivaffe fighters. Among them some Fw 189s (double-fuselage fighters some thing like Lightnings) were seen for THOR'S LONG ARM : Thunderbolts with long-range fuel tanks. The bomber version has one beneath the fuselage and the fighter version one in each wing. the first time The raiders lost 63 bombers and 14 fighters, but claimed to have shot down 77 enemy machines. The new Reich Air Ministry is be lieved to have a very thick concrete roof, but it was certainly damaged. Tactical Air Support Close Liaison with Qround Forces : Multi-purpose Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Lightnings ONE of the very first lessons to be learnt during the present war was the indispensability of air superiority in any military undertak ing. What took longer to learn was the best way to co-ordinate air and ground forces in order to obtain maxi mum effect with minimum expendi- & ture of man-power and materials, but it is now universally agreed that the two are interdependent and that the closest liaison is essential to success. How thoroughly this is appreciated by the American Forces based in Great Britain was demonstrated when Flight paid a visit recently to the U.S. Ninth Fighter Command, under Brig.-Gen. E. R. Quesada, which can be taken as a typical unit of the overwhelming Allied Expeditionary Air Force now ready to blast the enemy out of the Continental skies, shatter his army's communications and provide the closest support for our invading land and sea Forces. Three distinct duties fall upon an air unit operating in the area of ground forces it is supporting, namely, offensive action against enemy ground forces, defence against enemy air attacks on our own ground forces, and reconnaissance both visual and photo graphic. At present the Ninth Fighter Command's activities are concentrated upon the first and third of these jobs as applied strategically and Flight was present at the briefing of a useful force of Thunderbolt pilots who, less than half an hour later, took off to attack a railway target in Belgium. Next naming the BBC. announced that U.S. aircraft had successfully attacked marshalling yards at Louvain, near Brussels. The briefing was done by the colonel who was to lead the mission. He gave them their route, showed them on the map how they would approach the target, and finished by warning them against casual "strafing" in enemy- occupied territory on the way back. He spoke quietly—almost casually— but his instructions were clear and complete, and none of his pilots needed to ask any questions after wards. Similarly the "met." officer gave them the necessary information on wind direction and speed, and con ditions on the way and over the target. No time was wasted and yet there was no apparent haste. We walked over to the control tower and climbed to its roof with Gen. Quesada. In only a few minutes the Thunderbolts, fighter- bombers and escort-fighters, were taxying along the perimeter track, each with a long-range tank under its belly and, in the case of the former, a hefty bomb under each wing. They took off in pairs at perfectly timed in tervals of a few seconds, tucking up their legs as they swept past the con trol tower; they formed into flights over the airfield while a Stinson Sen tinel, waiting to land, stoodged around until the last P-47 was clear, and in a few moments they were out of sight on their way to Belgium. To return to the role this unit will play in support of ground forces, we saw much on this airfield which may not be mentioned here, but a most convincing demonstration was given of how that close liaison between air and ground will be achieved when the big attack on, the European Fortress is launched. In the Command Post, where Air Force and Army commanders live and work side by side, there was staged an example of how a request for air action at a certain point would be handled. The idea was that enemy heavy guns were holding up an attack by our armour in a certain sector, and would the Air Force please deal with them. The Army explained just why our own artillery could not get at them, and it took less than five minutes' discussion with the aid of a large map to decide everything and send a " reccy " aircraft to pin-point the troublesome guns while the fighter- bombers prepared to take-off. Another demonstration showed how an air support party pushes its communications as far forward as pos sible with minimum delay. A CG-4A cast off from its C-47 tug, made an accurate spot-landing at our very feet (yes, we backed away hurriedly!) and disgorged a jeep complete with crew who instantly hoisted an aerial and got "crackling" on their R/T. Needless to say, this sort of thing calls for very comprehensive ground equipment from mobile workshops to mobile flarepaths. The unit is equipped with Mustangs and Light nings as well as Thunderbolts, which between them combine the duties of interceptor-fighter, escort fighter, fighter-bomber, photographic recon naissance and " met" observation. V
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