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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1938.PDF
3oa FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1944 with advantage have said the United Kingdom) does not take kindly to violent change. He advocates, however, an early start by giving a common education to all potential officers both of the Fighting and the Civil Services. The education of officers after commissioning could be broadened by establishing combined Staff and War Colleges at appro priate levels, and we could thus produce Commanders and staffs with full knowledge of what they are about and of the capabilities and suitability of the various components of the force in the roles allotted to them in the combined plan. One of the most striking novelties introduced in the present war has been the appointment of Supreme Com manders in various theatres who have been granted power to direct the strategical employment, and in some cases the tactical employment, of all three Services. Obviously each officer must be trained (at least in the early stages of his career) as an expert at one parti cular form of fighting. One could never expect, say, a Flying Officer to make an efficient commander of a destroyer, or a Captain in the Royal Armoured Corps to be a good leader of a flight of R.A.F. fighters. But the organisation of the Army suggests that more could be done in that line than at first sight seems likely. A lieutenant in the infantry probably knows very little about the work of artillery, engineers, or tanks. Yet when he has risen to be a General Officer he is con sidered fit to command a force of all arms. The fighting in Burma is at present almost entirely infantry work, yet we trust Admiral Mountbatten to direct it. It would be rash to express a definite opinion yet on this very controversial subject; but certainly the more that every officer knows about the work of Services other than his own, the better it will be for the future security of the British Isles. CONTENTS The Outlook - - - War in the Air Here and There - Defeating V.I - - Some Outstanding Pilots of the War Behind the Lines " Golden Hind " Goes East A.T.A. Achievements - - Blackpool Airport A'rcraft Heating Bomber Command's 12th V.C. Correspondence Aircraft in Flying Attitudes t Service Aviation - »• 301 303 306 308 312 314 315 316 318 319 321 322 324 325 Airborne Division , *• W HAT a pity it is that Sir Nigel Norman could no£ have been spared to enjoy the magnificent spec tacle of the'first large-scale operation by the Airborne Army last Sunday when it made its descent on Holland in terrific force. Sir Nigel shared with General Browning the honour of training the first Air borne Division in the British Forces, and it is legitimate to assume that out of that partnership sprang much of the excellence of Sunday's operation. Sir Nigel lost his life in a flying accident, but happily General Browning is still playing a leading part as second-in-command to the G.O.C., Lt.-Gen. Brereton. Sunday's air invasion was a truly combined operation. The whole might of the Allied Air Forces in Western Europe co-operated; light bombers, heavies, fighters and fighter-bombers played their part, and Dutch patriots contributed once the airborne forces had landed. OVER THE RHINE : Halifaxes, with their Horsa gliders of the First Allied Airborne Army, crossing the river which the Ger mans have lauded in song, music and verse since time immemorial. A short account of the landing, from our own war correspondent, is on page 305. A much fuller account will appear in our next issue.
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