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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 2036.PDF
358 FLIGHT OCTOBER 5TH, 1944 equalled the heroism of those airborne troops; though there have been many occasions when British troops (and soldiers of other nations, too) have fought to the last gasp, refusing to surrender or retreat. Often the result has been the annihilation of the whole body. It is, however, vain to deny the fact that this incident was a British failure, or, if the blunt truth is preferred, a defeat. Out of some 7,000 troops (perhaps more) only about 2,000 were evacuated across the Lek branch of the Rhine Hard though they fought, they did not succeed in securing the bridge at Arnhem for the use of the Allies On the other hand, the Prime Minister has confirmed the claim that their fight made possible the seizure by the 2nd Army and the other two airborne divisions of the bridge over the Waal at Nijmegen. Bad weather certainly deprived the men of full air support. In our chagrin at the Arnhem set-back we need not forget that the landings at Eindhoven and Nijmegen fully achieved their objects, and enabled the 2nd Army to get across the Waal. If the Arnhem fight really secured the Nijmegen bridge; then the sacrifice of some 5,000 men may have been justifiable—or perhaps we should say justified. To win a war as quickly as possible almost invariably saves lives, and a sacrifice of brave men at some critical spot is often economical of total lives lost. This airborne landing was a gamble, and Generals who never gamble with fate rarely shine as stars. The only question was whether this particular part of the gamble was likely to gain more in the event of success than it stood to lose in the event of failure. It seems that this question must be answered in the affirmative. Guarding the Hump Line T HE knighthoods conferred on General Slim and his divisional commanders is a proof of how highly the campaigning of the 14th Army is appreciated at headquarters in London. The same Army also received a handsome testimonial from the Prime Minister last week in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister was concerned to set matters in their true light as a result of some distorted reports which had appeared in American newspapers. The aggressive fighting of the 14th Army had, said Mr. Churchill, two CONTENTS The Outlook - - - ... War in the Air Here and There - Wasted Talent - . - " Black Widow " - Jet Propulsion and Adiabatic Expansion Complete Power Units Post-war Private Flying Injuries in Light Plane Crashes - Pathfinders - Correspondence Aircraft in Flying Attitudes Service Aviation - 357 359 362 364 - • 368 37i 372 373 375 376 377 379 380 results. The order in which he placed the two was worthy of note, though that does not mean necessarily that he ranked the importance of the first much higher than that of the second. Mr. Churchill first spoke of the air route to China which is flown by an American Command over the Himalayas (known locally as the Hump) into China, by which much more material (the Prime Minister w?ould not say how much more) was sent into China than had ever been carried by the Burma Road in its palmiest days. The aggressive campaign of the 14th Army (which is' still being carried on despite the monsoon) "guarded the pass of the American air line to China." Mr. Churchill then added that the campaign had pro tected India against the horrors of a Japanese, im?asion. This speech shows that at least one major object of the fighting in Burma during the last few months has been to protect an air line, and by doing so to ensure the delivery of supplies to Generalissimo Chiang Kai- shek. It is an episode almost unique in warfare. The Libyan campaigns, from Egypt to Tunisia and Sicily, were fought to free for Allied use the passage of the Mediterranean—a sea line. That was easily compre hensible by any Briton. To fight for an air line is a new thing; but, now that the situation has been made clear, all Britons will approve of making every effort to send the maximum possible help to the Chinese. PREPARING FOR DISSECTION This flying bomb was still-born and its internal organs fairly intact, appears on pp. 364-367 of this issue. An illustrated article C^ (
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