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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1362.PDF
-2 FLIGHT JULY OTH, • 1944 guns. In time, no doubt, anti-tank guns could have been brought up to the help of our men, but actually there was no need to wait for them. Air assistance was called for, and promptly there arrived overhead rocket- firing Typhoons. Every one of these aircraft carried eight rockets, each the equivalent of a 6in. shell. In fact, it could fire the equivalent of the broadside of a 6in. gun cruiser, and it had cannon in addition. This formidable battery speedily silenced the enemy tanks ; and we may suppose put some at least of them out of action for good and all. That is the sort of help from the air which the Army appreciates, and which the readers of newspapers can understand. A few more such details would be very welcome to all. Flexibility N OT many days after this episode of the Typhoons there was an instance of heavy Lancasters and Halifaxes bringing tactical help to the Second Army in daylight. It has always been preached in Flight that a bomber force needs to be flexible, ready to deal with the salient emergency of the moment, whether that be help for the Navy, help for the Army or independent air action. Also, we have always prea/hed that in air action tactical needs must take precedence of strategic desirabilities. fhe Air Staff is of the same opinion, and in the old da£s of Army Co-operation Command it was given out that when the Second Front came into being, not only Jat Command but the whole might of the Air Force yalild be available to help the Army. That shows that in/advance has taken place in air thought since 1918. rAllied heavy bombers were first used to give tactical CONTENTS The Outlook - - - - - War in the Air - Here and There - - Invasion Close-up - Topics of the Day - Ubiquitous W.A.A.F.s - Passing of a Famous Biplane - Idlewild Airport - New Fighter 'n Nine Weeks Behind the L«nes - Fuselage Shells - Superfortress - -- - - Aircraft in Flying Attitudes Correspondence - Service Aviation - 1 3 6 8 11 12 12, a and b 14 IS 16 17 19 21 22 23 support to the Army in the early days of the Italian cam paign. It may not on that occasion have been strictly necessary to use them in that way, but it cheered the soldiers up. Last Saturday there was certainly need of heavy metal, for a concentration of German armour and troops was discovered near Villers-Bocage. Attack from above was clearly indicated, and General Eisenhower has not got heavy bombers in his Command. The request was passed on to Air Chief Marshal Harris, and it must have caused him some inconvenience. A certain force was already bombed up for night operations, and hurried measures had to be taken to change the bomb load and get the aircrews ready for this very different task. The R.A.F. shines in such emergencies, and the new' plan was duly carried out. The. principle of bomber flexibility was triumDhantlv vindicated. SHADES OF NAPOLEON An R.A.F. photograph of the occupation of the island of Elba on the morning of June 17th. A smoke screen ;s being la;d to cloak the attack.
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