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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0106.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY I5TH, 1943 A debate on the urgent necessity of formulating at once an Empire air policy might also be useful in causing the dawning in Whitehall of a realisation of the need for immediate action if we are not to rest content with a secopd-rate place in post-war air transport. Bridges and BulgesG ENERAL ARNOLD, Commanding General of theUnited States Army Air Forces, recently said in Washington f "Lack of air power brought theGerman offensive to a grinding halt." While he was speaking, General Arnold described the three basic prin- ciples of T.A.F. operation in the following words: — " We neutralise the enemy's air power by hitting his airfields or taking out his planes in aerial combat.""We isolate a battle area of our own choice by cut- ting enemy supply and communication lines, such asbridges and railroads." '' The tactical air forces co-operate in the closest pos- sible ways with advancing or defending ground troops." While claiming that air power had saved the day, he failed to point out that it was a departure from these basic principles which had allowed the offensive to build up. If the Rhine bridges had been blown in the same manner as were those over the Seine, neither Rundstedt, Model, nor any other German general would have dared to bring across the Rhine all the heavy equipment neces- sary fur a major offensive. If the four days of clear weather which followed Christmas had not arrived and a less able commander than Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham (who tem- porarily took over the American 9th and 29th Tactical Air Commands, in addition to the British 2nd T.A.F.) had been at the helm, then the plight of the port of CONTENTS The Outlook ----- Wax in the Air - Here and There - ... Airborne Lifeboats - Monocoques - Undercarriages Air-Age Education - - - Civil Aviation News - - - Pre-planning Perfection - Your Future in Civil Aviation The Use of Airborne Troops Correspondence - - Service Aviation .... 55 57 60 62 65 70 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 Antwerp and the 21st Army Group might easily have become very serious. Even now, after much damage has been done, it is only the railway bridges which are being attacked. Every important railway bridge between Karlsruhe and Cologne has now been bombed. Some are damaged and some destroyed. This will, of course, have the effect of throwing a great extra strain on road transport to keep up supplies, but it can never be hoped that the front can be really starved by these half-measures.. Until the vernal equinox at the end of March, the Germans are going to have over twelve hours of darkness in every 24, during which period supplies can be moved fairly freely. If they are allowed to proceed unhindered, this should give them plenty of time to accumulate sufficient material to rcMrke bimpmig operations very expensive. JUST RELEASED : A rear view of 1000-ib. bombs leaving the bomb bays of Marauders of the U.S. First Tactical Air Force. The photograph was taken from another Marauder flying just low enough to avoid the preceding aircraft's slipstream.
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