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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1730.PDF
192 SLIGHT AUGUST 24TH, 1944 reason that the enemy did not know where they were, what they were doing, or where they were going. No doubt von Kluge tried all the available means of getting information, telegraphed or wireless reports from subordinate commanders or from quislings, reconnaissances by armoured cars, and so on. But the American armour moved so fast that it outstripped the news of its coming, and war correspondents were for bidden to report the steps of its advance. Not until the Americans had reached Orleans, Chateaudun, Chartres, and Dreux did General Mont gomery permit the veil of silence to be lifted, and by then it did not matter much whether German aircraft could or could not catch sight of the- Americans. Air supremacy had done.its work. News and the Air E VENTS in France have moved with such rapidity— to some extent unexpected, one imagines—during the last week or two that it has become somewhat difficult to keep pace with them. We are not referring so much to the scarcity of news from the areas around Paris (which is easily explained by the fact that the enemy is without air reconnaissance and is, therefore, left largely guessing as to the whereabouts of the Allied Forces), but rather to the information now obtainable at SHAEF. Before the new front in the South of France was opened, accredited war correspondents could get all available news from SHAEF. But since the landings on ihe Riviera coast the picture has changed considerably. Of the invasion of Northern France General Eisenhower is in supreme command, his second in command of all forces being Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, and the chief of his air forces Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory. On the Riviera front General Sir' Henry Maitland Wilson is in supreme command, and his air chief is General Ira Eaker, of the U.S. Army Air Forces. These two generals receive their orders direct from the Com bined Chiefs of Stafifand thus the forces under Maitland ,e under SHAEF. '"jjjtmpr . CONTENTS The Outlook War in the Air - - - Here and There ... London—Paris- - Plastics for Aircraft Engineers Behind the Lines - By Air in Burma The Last of the Many - - - Endurance and Range - Four Austers Prevent a Catastrophe Aircraft in Flying Attitudes ' - Correspondence - Service Aviation - . - - - - . - - - - - - 191 193 197 199 201 205 206 208 2IO 212 213 214 215 > This, in itself, would not greatly matter from the point of view of gathering official news. What makes matters difficult is the fact that the air forces of the Allies are used in so many different ways. One day, or rathe^l one night, the heavy bombers of the R.A.F. strike at targets far into Germany. They are then under the command of Sir Arthur Harris. But the next day, or the day after, the same Lancasters and Halifaxes may be sent against tactical targets in Normandy or Brittany. Then they come under Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, and the news will come from SHAEF. It is conceivable that after that they might be wanted for bombing a target on the Riviera, in which case they would come under Maitland Wilson. They might even bomb German tar gets on their way home, which would be a Bomber Command job, so that news of the two halves of their task would come from Rome and Bomber Command respectively. And now Yugoslavia has entered the air picture too. Coastal Command is under the operational control of the Admiralty, and little is allowed to become known of its great work. All this appears to militate against the forming of a correct and coherent picture of the war as fought at present on the Western Front. \ BROADSIDE : A salvo of eight rocket projectiles from a Beaufighter on its way to make direct hits on an escort vessel off the Norwegian coast.
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