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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0971.PDF
MAY IITH, 1944 FLIGHT 503 Behind the Lines Propaganda THE National Air Council of the Quis ling Government in Norway has started publication of a new quarterly periodical, Norsk Flyging, the aim of which is "to keep all airminded people up to date with regard to development of technique on aviation." Restrained THE Germans deny that the Allies have succeeded in destroying the German fighter force," says the Berlin correspondent of the Da gens Nyheter, '' but are silent about whether the Allied air attacks have reduced fighter pro duction." Decorated DR. CLAUDIUS DORNIER, head of the Dornier works of Friedrichs- hafen, has been awarded by Hitler the title of "Pioneer of Labour." Others to get the award included Dr. Julius Dorpmueller, Minister of Trans port, who was said to have been appointed Reich transport dictator last week, and Albert Voegler, chairman of the United Steels Works in Dortmund. 'A Conducted Tour SIGHT-SEEING tour of Copen hagen for American airmen who made a forced landing somewhere in Den mark was organised by Danish patriots," says the Underground paper De Frie Danske, quoted by the Danish Press Ser- ••^fcuce and Reuter. '' The patriots gave the airmen food and clothes, and the itinerary included the Royal Castle, the Amalienborg Palace and the Dagmarhuset—Gestapo Headquarters. "The day after their Copenhagen tour the Americans crossed over to Sweden, and the only souvenir the Germans have of them is the article and pictures pub lished by De Frie Danske, one of which shows them sunning themselves on a bench in the Royal Library Gardens." Service and Industrial News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy' occupied Countries Never Too Young FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD boys are urged by the Finnish Press to join the A.A. units. According to Mannerheim's wish the boys will be exempt from labour service obligations and an unlimited number of them will be accepted by the A.A. formations. Luftivaffe Special BERLIN military circles assert that Luftwaffe aircraft which carried out attacks on Allied shipping in the Mediterranean have been '' specially built for this purpose." Hitherto the Luftwaffe had only two special torpedo-aircraft, the He 111 and the He 115, and it is possible that some of the new larger types, such as a version of the He 177, have been adopted for this purpose. Nips to Go Nap AN all-out effort of the war industry to produce more aircraft is now being organised in Japan. To catch up with Allied output the aircraft industry is working day and night, and Prime Minister Tojo expects that by the end of this year the Japanese industry will double their output or produce five times as many aircraft as in 1942. Quality may well be the first casualty of this battle for production, and it seems that even her allies realise Japan's diffi culty of keeping pace with Allied techni cal superiority: "The Japanese Air Force," said a recent German report, '' is expected to be soon in a position to counter the Anglo-American air war effectively—at least as far as its numerical strength is concerned." LOOKING FOR TROUBLE ; A German picture of a formation of Me 110s over the Alps, said to have been taken whilst on their way to intercept American bombers approaching from Italy. Taken Over THE newspaper La Turquie reports that the Bulgarian Air Force has come under virtual control of the Luft ivaffe following a compromise between the Bulgarians and Germans. Under the terms of agreement the Luftwaffe has taken possession again of any aircraft delivered to Bulgaria since 1939, with a proviso that the aircraft, while pass ing under German control, will continue to be based on Bulgarian airdromes. All Bulgarian pilots from now on must undergo a minimum period of three mouths' active service in the Luftwaffe after a short training course in Germany. Upon the completion of their active service they will be eligible "to volun teer" for regular service in the German Air Force, receiving special pay and allowances. The newspaper adds that Bulgarian fighter pilots already serving with the Luftwaffe under these conditions recently took part in the defence of Bucharest. Preparing /^\NLY time will show the real purpose ^-J of the new chain of airfields now being established by the Luftwaffe in Norway. But whether for defence 01 offence, reports indicate a feverish acti vity in the expansion of existing landi*g facilities and the construction of new ones. Over 300 acres of forest have been cleared to make room for the big airfield which- the Germans are building at Halsemoeu, Flisa, about twenty miles from the Swedish border and about fifty miles from the big air base at Gardemoen which has recently been substantially enlarged. The work on the Haslemoen airfield started in January and large areas have been evacuated, schools and churches requisitioned, and farms devastated. The whole district has been practically destroyed. One thousand Russian prisoners and 800 Norwegian slave labourers are engaged on the work. Only twelve miles from this airfield another temporary one is being rapidly built, and the construction of a third situated'close to the Swedish border, was started at the end of last month. , Both the Fornebu airfield, near Oslo, and the Bardufors, in the county of Troms, are being expanded. The method used for the construction of these temporary airfields on frozen ground or lakes is first to remove the snow from the ice, then cover it with a layer of sawdust which acts as an insu lator, and then a layer of gravel Ice treated in this way—it is said— can last until midsummer, provided the weather in the spring does not become unusuallv warm. In Denmark, too, the Luftwaffe is pre paring; the Kastrup airfield is being transformed from a training to an opera tional base; many bombers are reported to have arrived and stocks of bombs arc placed around the periphery. On the Avedorc airfield the B.MAV. have installed repair workshops for theii engines, while the Heinkel concern has taken over the engine shops of the naval dockyards.
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