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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1210.PDF
6a3 WAR IN THE AIR oi bombs on theii runways hangars and executive buildings. All the bombers returned safely but two ot the fighter escort were lost in combat with intercepting German fighters, six oi which were shot dowu in running fights. This was the first time the U.S. air craft returned to their Russian air fields as distinct from previous occa sions when they had used them to shuttle between Britain aud Russia in two-way attacks,'and it is worth men tioning in passing that when their crews were on their way back, they heard, on their radio, the announce ment of the Allied invasion in the West. While the.Russia-based Ameri cans were attacking Galatz, bombers oi the Red Air Force went for the rail way junction and other military objec tives at Jassy (Rumania) and they too returned without loss. The official re port ot this attack did not go into details and it is not known what enemy opposition, if any, the Russian attack ing force met. But during the day preceding the raid, 42 German aircraft were destroyed in the same area, a cir cumstance which would not exactly ft to risk further in- Jtoo plentiful THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC : American aircraft drop parachute bombs on an airfield in Hollandia. In three days some 280 Japanese aircraft were destroyed or put out of commission. encourage the H14 roads into his reserve o^figtfferi Itali IN Italy the T *• been\keepin enemy cdm of Rome and i motor\ trans^ brid<je9v, highw ,, medium icene Air Fc 'ce has -hamrtfering of northf and west entral Itaty, going for rail.-' yards and s and' road bridges, bomKers and fighter / bombers as well as fighters also attacked rail and other military targets and shipping in Yugoslavia, thus giv ing useful help to Marshal Tito and his gallant partisan army. Simultaneously, rail yards in Northern Italy and im portant communication lines along the French-Italian ^border were attacked by strong forces of escorted heavy bombers. All these operations were carried out at the cost of ir Allied aircraft; two of the very small number of enemy aircraft encountered being shot dcwn. SITTING IN A BUBBLE : The P-51 Mustang has now appeared in America with a clear-view one-piece cover over the cockpit. The armament comprises six 0.5m. machine guns. Mustangs are doing good work over France just now» On the Burmese front. Air Marshal Baldwin's Tactical Air Force com mands such superiority'that, generally speaking, the Japanese carefully avoid combat with the Spitfires. Having lost some 360 or more aircraft, destroyed either in combat or on the ground, since November last, the Japs now operate from airfields out of reach of the Tactical Air Force's long-range fighters and only make an occasional sortie over their own troops in the Kohima and Imphal areas. As these cautious excursions seldom include bombing or machine-gun attacks over the Allied lines, they are apparently indulged in primarily to "save face.'' The chief enemy ot Baldwin's men, in fact, will now be the weather with the advent of the monsoon season. Thanks yery-dargely to this almost undisputed command of the air in these regions, thj Troop-carrier Com mand has been able to deliver supplies to the forward units of the 14th Army as well as to transport whole divisions of Allied troops to their advanced positions. During the first four months of this year, it has been dis closed, the transport aircraft of this Command have flown approximately 60,000 tons of supplies and equipment to units which, either because of enemy dispositions or the impossible character of the country, could not be reached in any other way. This, in fact, has been the regular job of Brig. Gen. Old's transport aircraft, and with the onset of the monsoon at this time of the year the work of the British and American aircrews will be rendered more difficult and dangerous, especi ally among the mountains; it will greatly intensify the amount of flying to be done on those days when flying
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