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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1038.PDF
540 FLIGHT MAY ISTH, 1944 CORRESPONDENCE been upset. As "Test Pilot" may or may not be aware, units of this description issued to the airframe mariufacturers, etc., are sealed, and their rectification is not permitted by the installation personnel, the unit having to be replaced and returned with the seal unbroken. In view of the fact that test flights are carried out—or should be—within the precincts of the airfield and not under actual blind flying conditions, and that the safety of the aircraft during this flight would not be impaired by the unserviceability of the unit, it would clearly be uneconomical to employ additional time, material and personnel in having to check the assembly immediately prior to test flight when this test itselt can do the work instead; after all, test pilots other than the chief, usually have a fairly easy time. I do not think there is any necessity to go into further detail, or need to refer to Gremlins, for, after all, I do not wish to become a voluntary consulting " ground engineer" but I would like to feel that " Test Pilot" if that is his profession as well as his nom de plume, had a little more confidence in his associates than he would have us believe. W. D. BLACKBURN. DAY AND NIGHT RAIDS Striking Often as Well as Hard THERE are one or two statements made by V. H. Izard in his letter which appeared in Flight on April 6th, as to the advantages of daylight raids over those carried out by night, to which I would like to add some remarks. In my view, this correspondent made a most regrettable statement when he wrote '' I see no reason why all bombing should not be by day in the near future." I see no reason why it should ! Our policy, broadly, is to hit the enemy as hard and as often as possible, so why throw away opportunities of striking blows by night ? As Mr. Izard says, there must inevitably be some civilian casualties in occupied territory, in air attacks by day as well as night, but I maintain that R.A.F. night attacks, especially on French industrial targets, are highly accurate even though, on most occasions, conditions are not as favourable as are met with in daylight. 12,000 lb. "factory-busters," together with "block-busters" and "cookies," are dropped with great pre- COMTHA ROTATING JET A&&1&TB.D ROTOR (TORQUE ALMOST ELIMINATED iAiRSCR&WS TO HCDUCt THE SINKING SPEED WHILST HOVERING BUXZER EMITTING LOW BURBLING NOTE WHEN APPROACHING IINT IMMOVABLE MASS \ FLYING INSTRUMENT PANEL RP.UVM.DZ MKTJK A TYPE* cision by our Lancaster crews on a variety of special targets of strategic importance inside the occupied countries, and Jtiiost people interested in R.A.F. activities probably read how an R.A.F. bomber brought back its deadly load of more than 5 tons of high-explosive because the crew could not be certain of hitting the target squarely. This is only one instance which demonstrates the standard reached in night precision bombing. The numbers of enemy fighters destroyed by U.S. Fortresses and Liberators, with their powerful fighter escorts, is, indeed, considerable. That one fact alone dispels any argument against maintaining these daylight air attacks on Germany's "Euro pean fortress," but if sufficient forces of day bombers are operating to cope with and reduce the Luftwaffe fighter strength, as appears to be the case now, then what an advan tage would be gained by supplementing our own night bomber production with that of some American factories, in view of the greater tonnage of bombs which can be carried by night bombers. If we can imagine a time when Luftwaffe strength is reduced to such an extent as to allow the present types of night bombers to attack by day, then I believe that Germany's end will be very near indeed. Although a depreciating factor, the Luftwaffe shows no signs of having to be written off as an effective counter-weapon to Allied raiders. There are, we know, certain disadvantages accompanying night attacks, such as those which your correspondent mentions. So there are where night work is done in war factories, but (here is no "let-up " in round-the-clock production. Nor must there be in round-the-clock bombing. - ^1 While on the subject of day raids, I would like to offer an answer to "Realist" (Flight, April 6th) on the question- of Fortress or Mosquito for day raids. First, whereas the Mosquito carries a bomb-load of 4,000 lb., the Flying Fortress carries at least 5,000 lb. of bombs, and the Liberator about 9,000 lb. ' Thus there is a greater bomb- carrying capacity for the " Fort" and Liberator. Also, even with powerful fighter escort, the U.S. "heavies" are subjected to fierce opposition from intercepting enemy fighters, as is shown by the numbers of the latter shot down. The a, again, the U.S. bombers have a dual function: that of destroying German strategic targets and of reducing German fighter strength, though the latter may not be an officially stated duty of the bombers. With these points in mind, the continued use of Fortresses and Liberators seems to me to be well justified, though I agree that Mosquitos, working in conjunction with the bigger bombers, would no doubt be able to do valuable work. R. L. GLADWELL. THVMMIN& tiOTOR t FOR F1NA.L. TORQUE ELIMINATION) P.TOT WCA-O X m^ UNDERCARRIAGE ADJUSTMENT FOR LANDING ON A SLOPING ROOF SCATS roR Pw&fcCWGERS W(TH THEIR BACKS TO TMC ENfitNC. Access DOOR TO ROOM »*OR W-lPBOV£ineNT [JET6 FOR HOWaONTAL FLMSKTj OTABiL'ZeKi FOR BACKWARD FLIGHT SpRlMG UOADCU \ RUDDER BAR,NOT \ CONNCCTCD TO CONTROLS (FOR FITCD vflN& PILOTS) tNLBT TO COMPRESSOR, COOLWslG SYSTEM, AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM fc UJT& OF TWNGS I ROTOR* ENGINE CONTROLS 1 H.E-SOW&. RtLEAJ&CD TO PREPARE EMERGENCY LANytNG GROUND IN A BUILT UP A*tA FLIGHT " CORRESPOND MAIL PLANE. s-£,*4uix > X A
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