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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1460.PDF
5<3 FLIGHT JULY 20TH, 1944 B.E.F. was extricated from the French beaches because Britain held undisputed command of the sea, combined with a less complete but still invaluable superiority in the air. The Luftwaffe was then powerful in numbers, but Fighter Command beat it in quality. In the Baltic the Russians have an air superiority, for the Luftwaffe's might has waned since 1940, but the Germans are superior on the surface of the sea. All the German fleet, with the exception of the crippled Tirpitz, is in the Baltic, and it includes the pocket battleships Admiral Scheer and Lutzow, the cruisers Hipper and Prinz Eugen, and the carrier Graf Zeppelin, though it is very doubtful whether the last-named is operational in the sense of being able to afford air cover to the rest of the fleet. Germany rules the Baltic. One may, however, feel sure that large numbers of Red aircraft would do their best to interfere with any attempted evacuation of the German divisions by water, and they would not be likely to meet with much oppo sition except from the flak guns of the ships. No pre cisely similar situation has yet arisen in this war. In the action off Malaya, the Japanese were only concerned to sink two British capital ships, which is a different matter from attempting the destruction of a whole army. Night and Day F OR a long time past everyone has come to think of day-bombing as the invariable practice of the American Army Air Forces, while R.A.F. Bomber Command used to abjure daylight with all the dis approbation once expressed by a certain Astronomer Royal. Conditions in northern France of late have led to some change in this sharp division of lightness and dark. The heavy aircraft of Bomber Command have been called upon more than once to fly over Normandy by- day and drop their weighty bombs on concentrations of German armour and other enemy troops. The almost complete elimination of the Luftwaffe from the area of CONTENTS The Outlook - War in the Air Here and There Invasion Close-up Topics of the Day - Six Months of U.S.S.T A.F. Ope; Aircraft in Flying Attitudes Fire Risk in Aircraft Behind the Lines Fighting An Implacable Foe Rotol Cabin Supercharger Post-war Private Aircraft Budd Conestoga Correspondence Service Aviation _ - - - - •ations - - - - - -- - • - - 1 55 57 60 62 65 66 66. a and b 67 70 7i 72 73 74 76 77 the battlefield made this use of Lancasters and Halifaxe.-. by day a fairly safe proceeding; though surprise ha- been expressed in these columns at the use of bomb- when the target was within range of shells. It was certainly not because the Royal Artillery is not up to its work ; German prisoners have testified that British shellfire is something too awful for words. ^ They have also been despatched against the bases and stores, which are officially called '' military installa tions.'.' These targets are outside artillery range, and they have to be attacked by day. The best medicins for them is the 12,000 lb. bomb, and only the British heavies can transport that weapon. Now, on the other hand, Marauders and other Ameri can mediums are being used by night. The enemy dares not move by day, and so the Americans of the Ninth Air Force were short of targets. A change over to night operations became necessary if the Marauders were to continue the work which they have so finely begun. The learning of the new, technique is not so difficult for the crews ofyfnediums as for those of Fortresses and Liberators, And those grand aircraft con- THE NAVY IN INDIA : Fleet A:r Arm rating re-arming a Fairey Barracuda torpedo-bomber at an Indian Ocean station.
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