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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1051.PDF
^AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD J FOUNDED WO9 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH. M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 8-10, Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY s CORPORATION ST. BIRMINGHAM. 2 i GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 line*). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW. C.2 i 260, DEANSGATE 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams: lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams: lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Blackfriars +412. Telephone: Central 4857. No. 1848 Vol. XLV. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. May 25th, 1944. ^he Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling Weapons and Tactics W HEN the Germans rapidly overran Poland and France the belief became widespread, at least among civilian observers, that for the future two new weapons, the tank and the dive-bomber, had become the dominant factors in military tactics. U Among thinkers on military subjects there is always "a contest between the ultra-conservative mind and the ultra-radical mind. The professional fighting man tends to be ultra-conservative, and one recalls the story of the stout old knight in the Middle Ages who declaimed - against "villainous saltpetre," which had spoilt the fun of war from the point of view of the armoured horse man. In a scientific age like our own the tendency is rather to acclaim the latest mechanical weapon just because it is mechanical and new, especially new. The campaigns in Poland and France put the radicals in a strong debating position. However, in a long war like the present one, where campaigns are fought in many different forms of terrain, facile generalisations are apt to be upset. In the official story of The Eighth Army, recently issued by the Ministry of Information, after the retreat to El Alamein the writer speaks of new tactical truths, and continues : " What was the lesson ? No less than that the character of fighting in the Western Desert must be changed. The gun, the mine, and the infantryman had come into their own, and the tank was no longer queen of the battle field." That applies only to the Western Desert. The dive- bomber aircraft—the boon companion of the tank in the Battle of France—had already been discredited, not only in the desert but elsewhere. For many forms of fighting the fighter-bomber had been proved better at the work for which the dive-bomber had been designed. Yet even now it would be unwise to expect the fighter-bomber to be equally effective above each and every terrain. The special correspondent of The Times at Allied H.Q. in Italy has written a glowing account of how these aircraft can knock out gun positions which cannot be reached by artillery, and how enthusiastic the soldiers are about their work. Of course, every enemy gun knocked out helps our infantry, but it is obvious that the number of such successes is limited. Could every enemy gun be dealt with by fighter-bombers, General Alexander would have been in Rome long ago. In the hills, as in the desert, the infantryman has again come into his own, though he needs every bit of help which the other arms can give him. Different terrains may well give promin ence to other tactical arms. Mud in Russia, for instance, has given renewed chances to horsed cavalry, which not long ago seemed to have been relegated to the past. In the fighting still to come we must not be surprised if other combinations of arms come to the front. The air will always play its part, but too much must not be expected of it or any other arm. Unfortunate Misunderstandings T HE civil aviation, debate in the House of Lords on May ioth and nth appears to have caused some thing of a stir in the United States and Canada. There appears little enough real reason for this, and probably the first excitement was caused by incomplete reports of what Lord Beaverbrook really did say. Cer tain American circles seem to have jumped to the con clusion that at the Anglo-American talks Mr. Adolph Berle had committed the United States and had pro moted the views of the Administration in opposition to those of the Clark sub-committee of the Senate. To those who have read the Official Report of the
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