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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 2088.PDF
394 FLIGHT OCTOBER IZTH, 1944 CONTINENTAL MISCELLANY \ Fighter dive-bomber and flying artillery, the Hawker Typhoon is one of the great weapons of the war. Each one carries a punch equalling the broadside of a six-inch cruiser. hand, since their anti-doodle-bug patrols are finished. As I heard it remarked: '' The Tempest boys will feel strange after running after electric hares for so long." One is sure they will give a good account of themselves. Wing Cdr. W Dring, D.S.O., D.F.C., who is Wing Com mander Operations of a rocket Typhoon wing, had some good stories to tell. "At Avranche," he said, "the Typhoons queued up and waited for the German transport to cross the bomb line." On another occasion they knocked down two houses to block a road, and then waited for the transport which built up behind the road block. On the battlefield proper, the accuracy of the rocket- firing has enabled them to be used as super-artillery. Pill boxes, guns, strong-points, all fall to this weapon and, used in conjunction with light, medium and heavy bombers, it is safe to say that every attempt at concen tration of force by the enemy has been dispersed. It is ttje Typhoons which operate on the '' cab rank '' system whereby specified targets are given by radio to the pilots by an observer at a Visual Control Point. It is claimed that this method enables the Typhoons to operate on targets within 200 yards of our own troops. Undoubtedly it is the closest form of air support ever devised. This Wing's bag since D-Day includes 94 tanks destroyed with 70 smokers, and 352 transport vehicles in flames, with another 400 smoking. Special Spitfires The evergreen Spitfire was, of course, to be found on every airfield; Spit Nines were in the majority. These have 0.5m. machine-guns in the wings to replace the 0.303m. guns carried hitherto. The new gyro gun sight replaces the older type reflector sight, but the 20 mm. cannon remain as usual. These Spits, with their speci ally developed Rolls-Royce Merlin LXI engines, were built for super high cover but, since the Luftwaffe refuse to go up to 40,000ft. to fight, they have become fighter-bombers and evolved a dive-bombing technique similar to that employed by the Typhoons. Wing Cdr. R. H. Harries, D.S.O., D.F.C., and 2 Bars, who is Wing Commander Flying of one of the Spitfire wings, told me how they worked. At a predetermined height the Spitfires slow down to round about the 150 m.p.h. mark and peel off into a 45-60 deg. dive. After diving 5,000 to 6,000ft. the bombs are released and the aircraft would be doing something in the region of 400 m.p.h. No diving brakes are used. Provided the area is fairly flak-hee, as many as 80 per cent, hits would be expected on a target the size of an ordinary dwelling house. Wing Cdr. Harries has a splendid record. He has destroyed 17 enemy aircraft himself, and in four years' operational flying has never lost a man flying in a section behind him. His Wing has the best casualty rate of any in the , 2nd T.A.F. From over 10,000 sorties since D-Day only ^. two pilots and five aircraft have been lost. Mediterranean Pattern An overall picture of the employment of air power in the battles of Europe shows the same pattern as that which has been so successful from El Alamein to the north of Italy. The air isolates the battlefield and drains its strength by denying the enemy supplies. At the appro priate moment the army attack and occupy the area. After a period of build-up the process is repeated. The true flexibility of air power is being exploited to its fullest extent. It is switched over at short notice to supply or protection, or to offensive operation. The latter may be either strategic or tactical. Indeed, as the investment of Germany becomes closer each day, strategic and tactical targets become inextricably mixed. There is nothing which can be called an air war being fought at the moment. All effort on both sides is directed to aid the ground forces, and it is evident that the airborne landings have stung the Germans very severely. The Luftwaffe is reacting as it has not done for many months. * Flying back on this occasion I came in the second "dicky" seat of a Dakota via Paris, Rouen, Falaise'and Caen. Paris looked, in the low afternoon sun on a day of splendid visibility, so white from the air that it might have
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