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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1794.PDF
228 FLIGHT AUGUST 31 ST, I944 Behind the Lines Cut-off Service and Industrial Blast Effect T UFTHANSA air services from Berlin •*-* and Stuttgart to Lyons, Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon have been suspended. Bombed News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy' occupied Countries THE Mayor of Stuttgart described the recent attacks on the city as 'the greatest disaster in the history of the town. Alcohol for Fuel '"THE bombing attacks on Ploesti and -*- the German drain on Rumanian oil supplies have caused an acute shortage of fuel in that country. This has forced the Rumanian Government to issue an order prohibiting the use of kerosene for household needs; the oniy permissible fuel is alcohol, and Rumanians were asked to lay in stocks for the future. Jap Spirit A NEW note is struck in an artiftW • by the Rector of Tokyo Technics) College published in "Mainichi." In contrast to previous statements in the Japanese press complaining about Allied industrial superiority, the hon. dean points out that although the Japanese have not yet made full use of their scien tific potential they can already compete easily with the Americans. This despite the fact that the U.S. have not only mobilised, tiieir material resources but have utilised their scientific potential as far as possible. But the official Domei Agency finds a new angle on the air fighting in "Greater Asia and Chunking China": it's the Jap spirit that'll make it. '' With air supremacy at stake in the newest theatre of war," it says, "the race between the superior quality of the Japanese airmen and the quantitative strength of the enemy air force, is on with unprecedented fury. The fervent spirit of the Japanese airmen and the superior skill of the fighter and night bomber pilots are successfully meeting . the enemy's much-boosted capacity for re inforcements." Reported by Japs ACCORDING to Japanese reports, the U.S.A.A.F. in China is now composed^ of three main groups: the first is the " Task Force " of B 29s, under the com mand of Maj. Gen. Arnold, of the recently created 20th Air Force, stationed on a string of airfields in the Chengtu area. This force has the task of raiding the Japanese mainland and, if possible, the Japanese-held areas in the south. It is pointed out that it is this task force that staged the '' guerilla '' raids on Kyushu on August 8th. The second group is termed the "Operational Force," com prising, B 24s stationed at Kunming and Kweilin airfields. These conduct night raids on the Canton area, attack Japanese vessels around Shanghai and off Taiwan, and attempt to bomb Hainan Island and French Indo-China. The third group consists of P 40s and P 41s (fighters) and B 25s .(medium bombers) stationed at Chihkiang in Hunan, Kan- chow in Kiangsi, and Liuchow in Kwangsi province. These fighter squad rons have been concentrating on inter ference with Japanese operations in Hunan and attacks on the Wuhan firea and the shipping traffic on the Yangtze. They often escort bombers from Kunming and Kweilin and co-operate with the Chungking Air Force in operations against Japanese supply lines. THE Rumanian Home Service an-noiiucc-d shortly before the break willi Germany that "the Black Sea ports ul Sulina and Coiwfauwa were attacked by bombers of the Soviet Air Force. Luftwaffe Ace PROCLAIMED by the German Radio aa the most successful fighter pilot in the world, Lt. Erich Hartmann is said to have scored 277 victories. He is at present on the Russian front. Gliding ACCORDING to the Budapest Radio quoted by Reuter, an international gliding record with a two-seater has been established by a twenty-years-old Hun garian. He took off from a provincial airfield and rose to a height of 12,000ft. Later a single-seater glider rose to an altitude of 18,000ft. He 177 FIRST German details of the He 177 have now been released by the German Telegraph Service for forces newspapers. Designated " Griffin," the report says that " with its tremendous load of bombs this aircraft has become the terror of the British ports." The He 177 is described as poweied with four engines in groups of two, each driving one airscrew and developing 2,400 h.p. Span is given as 104ft., and it is stated that the aircraft is now in mass production. Hidden Treasures GERMANY'S reserves are in the laboratories' of our scientists, on the drawing boards of German con structors, and in the hands of German workers," says the Voelkischer Beo- bachler. "We must disclose nothing about their power because secrecy and surprise will increase their effect. Germany's ace cards are mainly composed of these secret factors, which are called the 'silent re serves.' " Labour Problem " 'THE removal of a considerable •»- number of reserved workers from the armament industry will primarily affect the quality of labour," says the Hamburger Fremdenblatt. Discussing the new measures for a super-total mobilisation, the economic commentator of the paper says that owing to the fact that workers who are still considered in reserved occupations generally constitute the most qualified organisational and technical experts in the industry, " their removal will inevit ably cause managements exceptional problems in maintaining peak pro duction." Luftwaffe ' Recce' Record AN area of 11 million square kilometres —larger than the whole of Europe-^ has been photographed by a Luftwaffe long-range reconnaissance squadron which celebrated its 2,000th sortie on the Russian front. Man-power Search DISCUSSING the possibilities of the new super-total mobilisation de creed by Hitler, the Viennese Neues Wiener Tagblatt says that " it should be possible to release people from secondary schools, universities, etc., for work in the armament factories." A further measure of the campaign will be the closing of administrative offices to this end, and investigation is to be made which institutes are unneces sary. But the German official prefers to remain at his desk than to be driven to the trenches or to the factory bench, and therefore this action will be directed personally by Dr. Goebbels. Appreciation WHAT patriots think of the Allied air attacks on targets in occupied terri tories is best shown by this extract from a Belgian clandestine paper: Number 77 of the Churchill Gazette writes: "What ever the Boche papers may say, the Allies know how to choose their targets. Take, for instance, the raid on Courtrai. There were certainly Belgian civilian casualties, but hits were scored on all targets. The barracks, where 800 to 900 German soldiers and Belgian mercenaries were killed, the station where plant was put out of commission and about 50 loco motives and a large number of trucks destroyed, a requisitioned factory work ing for German)' was brought to a stand still, etc. . . ." Forecast THERE are-indications that British bomber formations will not carry out their missions in the same manner as last winter," says the German com mentator, Karl Zeppelin. "If we are not altogether mistaken, the concentrated short attack will be replaced by a loose form of attack. This is indicated by the fact that heavy British bomber formations, during their latest attacks on Reich territory, did not attack one objective but mostly attacked several cities with different groups." "The search for new tactics"—con cludes Zeppelin—"has evidently been pressed in an endeavour to make the task of the German air defence as difficult as possible, even at the cost of diminished effect. Doubtless the Bomber Command means to mislead the Luft waffe night fighters and to make their systematic control impossible by all available means."
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