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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1910.PDF
292 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 14TH, 1944 THE ARCTIC AIR ROUTE an expedition to be made as soon after thcwar as conditions will allow. Then it should be possible to discover amongst the inland lakes the site for a major emergency base and meteorological station. With the revival of civil aviation after the war, the technical developments achieved under the stress of combat, together with the virtual abolition of frontiers, should present us with opportunities the like of which have never before been known. If it is one of our war aims that we shall never, never again go back to the policy of muddle which made our civil air lines the laughing-stock of foreigners and a never- ending source of Parliamentary questions, then it should be one of our peace aims that we shall not miss those opportunities which peace will bring. Indeed, we are entitled to look forward to a Golden Age of civil aviation, in which the Arctic Air Route will play a leafing part. Mr. John Grierson being towed out of Angmagssalik, escorted by Greenlanders in their kayaks. Defeat of the "V.I 99 A FTER 80 days of more or less constant bombardment by. Germany's air torpedoes—the much-vaunted "V.i " t secret weapon—the fight against these ersatz heroes of the Third Reich has been won. Last week Mr. Duncan Sandys, chairman of the War Cabinet Committee responsible for operational counter-measures against this particular menace, called a Press conference at the Minis try of Information under the chairmanship of Mr. Brendan Bracken, and announced that the Battle of London against the "flying bomb" was officially regarded as over, except for the possibility of a few parting* shots. Although the actual launching^ of the V.i against the London area did not begin until the middle of June, the battle really began some 18 months ago when, in April, 1943, the first rather vague reports began to reach this country from secret agents in Germany that the enemy was developing a new kind of long-range bom bardment weapon. The value of these statements was at once investigated with the aid of the Intelligence branches of all three Services, and advice was sought from many of our leading scientists and engineers. As a result it was decided that the probable region for the development of such a weapon—if it really existed— would be on the Baltic coast, and reconnaissance aircraft were sent to photograph all the most likely areas. Among the photographs obtaiqed was one that appeared to be a most unusual kind of experimental station at Pennemunde on an island in the Baltic. This puzzled the investigators at first, but on a subsequent photograph, close scrutiny by the inter preters disclosed that a blurred speck was a small plane sitting on what seemed to be an inclined ramp fitted with rails. Yet another picture showed black streaks on the earth which might have been scorch marks from a hot blast. From this and other information it was deduced that the object seen must have been a small pilotless, jet-propelled aircraft. A Secret No Longer At this time it was not known whether the machine was an offensive weapon of some new type of target plane—a develop ment of the Queen Bee type, as it were. But all doubts were removed when it was discovered, in November last, that the Germans were building all along the coast from Calais to Cher bourg a whole series of concrete structures which had certain unmistakable features in common with those at Pennemunde. What was equally ominous was all these structures had their ramps pointing towards London. Extensive air reconnaissance throughout the difficult winter months discovered 100 of these launching sites, and from December onwards they were incessantly attacked by the R.A.F. and U.S.A.A F. until they were all destroyed. The Germans tried to repair them, but as they were repaired they were, bombed again. Finally the enemy gave them up as a bad job and, in March last, set_about construcing an entirely new series of sites of a much simpler kind and so well camou flaged that it was almost impossible to detect them by air photography until they had actually fired. But it was well into the summer before this new series of sites was completed and in the meantime our Intelligence services had found out so much about Hitler's "secret weapon" that we knew pretty well what to expect and so were able to set about the necessary counter-measures for the defence of London. In January a defence plan had been drawn up, but it had to be flexible because we did not know which would happen first, the launching of our own invasion of Normandy or the launching of the first air torpedoes against London. Actually the V.i attack began on D-day+ 6 when our guns and balloons were already entensively sited around, the British departure ports. Prompt Action But so complete were the preparations that, when the first " flying bomb " reached this country, a simple 'phone message put the pre-arranged plan into instant operation ; balloons and guns were moved immediately to prepared sites on the south-east of London, and within 24 hours were taking toll of the enemy's latest missiles. (This was officially known as the "Diver Plan," and the code message which put it into operation was " Diver, diver, diver.") Briefly, the p:an deployed the defences in three belts:—a"*- fighter belt over the Channel and coastal region, then an A.A. gun belt, and thirdly a balloon belt as a last line of defence. There were, of course, a few difficulties to overcome. The bombs flew at very high speed and at an average height of 2,300ft., which was too low to get the best results from the heavy guns and a bit too high for the 40 mm. and 20 mm. light guns. Only our fastest fighters could catch them on level terms, and judging a dive from above them required some practice before" the pilots could hit off the correct angle. Nevertheless during the first months some 40 per cent, of the bombs launched were brought down. As was to be expected, experience brought improvements both in defence tactics and in theit execution. When it was found that the bombs consistently came in low, the number of balloons was increased from the original 500 to a final total of 2,000 with obvious results. A 24-hour standing patrol of fighters was maintained and a second fighter belt between the guns and the balloons was introduced, the guns being moved down to the coast to give them' a clear field of fire. Various means were adopted for helping the fighter pilot to spot the missile in daylight. At night they were easily seen by their flaming tails but it was extremely difficult to judge the exact range. Then Prof. Sir Thomas Merton invented a simple and ingenious range-finder which proved to be the complete answer for |the night-fighter pilot, yet the device cost the ridiculously small sum of is. to produce. Of the 8,000 air torpedoes launched, only 2,300 reached the London area, the record bag being on Aug. 28th, when 97 out of 101 were destroyed.
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