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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0343.PDF
'KBRUARY 15TH, 1945 181 need to bring low-grade oil to Japan, there refine it, and then ship the stuff all the way back to Malayan centres. The seriousness of this is implicit in the fact that hitherto about three-quarters of all aviation spirit used by the Japs was produced in Sumatra refineries. I It was doubtless because of this that the attacks were ,closely contested. In the Palembang attack (third in the series) 13 twin-engine and single-engine fighters were shot down and six probables, whilst the ground strafe action destroyed 34 and damaged 25 on airfields ringing the target. Against Soengei Gerong, eight fighters were shot down over the target and three probables, and four were destroyed on the ground. One group of seven air- craft, out to attack the warships, was annihilated. Sea- fires and Hellcats shot down six in flames and possibly got the seventh. On the best computation, in these two attacks the Japs lost 99 aircraft, against which our losses were 15. Such figures further refute the obstinate and demonstrably inaccurate contention that " carrier aircraft are inferior! to land-based." From the tactical viewpoint, a remarkable reversal of roles appears indicated in the composition of the East Indies Force. Its major units announced by name as being present comprised one battleship and the Fleet-type carriers Illus- trious, Victorious, Indomitable and Indefatigable. Now never before have four large carriers been assembled with a British Fleet force as a squadron operating at sea. In the Mediterranean, the Western forces using Ark Royal and Furious were virtually distinct from the Eastern, where for a brief period Illustrious and later Formidable were in harness with the poor old Eagle doddering along as best its jellified structure would permit. But here, off Sumatra, we notice iour powerful modern carriers, each heavily armed and self-protected with numerous guns and a redoubtable screen of fighters. The united air forces of these ships must have mustered some 200 aircraft. Change in Ratio Compare this picture with that so frequently seen in earlier days. Then the picture was rather four battleships and one carrier which—as one tetchy admiral put it— was always getting in the way. I think the change in value of the carrier is due not only to the astonishing improvement in Fleet Air Arm aircraft, which has followed the arrival at the Admiralty of Vice- Admiral Boyd as Fifth Sea Lord and Commodore Slattery as Chief Naval Representative in M.A.P., but also to the improvement in the ships themselves. Formerly, such ships as the "Courageous were basically ships-witb-aircraft, but the modern carrier is, in clear if not easily explained dis- tinction, an aircraft ship. The changes in the carriers have resulted in a greatly advanced efficiency. One innovation concerns a movement control officer in each hangar. He acts as a sort of scene shifter director or car park attendant; and if he is some- times referred to in even less complimentary terms, at least he is playing a vital part in successful operation of a ship's aircraft. Another innovation concerns establishment of an Air Kepair Centre, where the stockpile of mechanical skill formerly dispersed throughout each squadron individually is concentrated in an engineers' pool, under an air engineer officer who acts as a labour director and' controller on a sort of a job-ticket basis. Yet another innovation concerns the '' dodge-em '' car vehicles which move aircraft mechanically about the deck or hangar, where once 59 ginger-headed and horny-handed sailors were needed to man-handle the machines. Not do changes apply only to the operational and air- craft side. Messes are vastly improved: each mess of the ship's company in Indefatigable has hot and cold water, its own radio and electric heater. Many have special bunks and cushioned seats. Indefatigable is the latest announced carrier, and the biggest British carrier so far. She is the first four-screw carrier in the Royal Navy, each of her four main engines driving an independent shaft and propeller. With a total of more than 150,000 h.p. available, her speed is much inexcess of 30 knots. In the official account of the Sumatra actions, con- spicuous by their absence were the Escort carriers. These have fulfilled a vital r61e in anti-submarine convoy escort work, but it would seem that their usefulness is waning. Born in emergency, they have the virtues of mongrel breeding and all its failings. There are two main points against the Escort-type carrier for fleet duty. The first concerns seamanship and the second airmanship. Carrier Aerobatics The Escort carrier is extremely vulnerable to attack, and its self-protection defences frail. In any sort of sea or wind, the flat-top superstructure adds to rolling and pitch- ing already noticeable in most merchant ships. As one seasick pilot said: " They don't actually loop but they do a beautiful stall turn." In addition, their maximum speed is such that whilst they are suitable for convoy escort duty they are unable to keep pace with a modern Fleet at sea. Furthermore, in conditions of flat or near-flat calm, without wind, to operate aircraft from their decks demands maximum output from the ship's engines and a correspond ingly major increase in oil-iuel consumption. One of the inside stories of the war concerns the operation of the Escort carriers covering the Salerno landings: then con- ditions of flat calm prevailed and aircraft operation was accordingly difficult. The second thing against the Escort carrier is shortage of deck space for flying-off aircraft. The short run certainly prohibits a large number of, say, fighter aircraft being lined up in readiness for take-off; and the reduction in air readi- ness is out of proportion to the reduction in size of at) Escort carrier compared with a Fleet carrier. - In other words, a new factor enters. In industrial affairs Motion Study and Production Man Hours are factors we have learned to be of vital interest, with Quality Control a very close third. Likewise, in comparing the Escort with the Fleet carrier, there enters a new factor which—to coin a phrase—we may term the Sea Air Ratio. In the larger carriers, we see some 2 000 men and " x " squadrons of aircraft. These aircraft are supported by an extensive repair and maintenance organisation—spares and unassembled parts may be as much as 60 per cent, of the complement of aircraft in being, assembled. For your 2,000 men at sea you get not only "x" squadrons of aircraft, but a self-contained sea-going air unit which will rely on assistance from the land only for major replace- ments and repairs. (This applies throughout the entire aircraft side—for example, with torpedoes, rockets, radio and so on.) Effective Deck-space - Against this the Escort carrier is a very lame duck. Its complement of "y" squadrons is not only numerically a low fraction of the " x" in the Fleet carrier, but the effectiveness of each squadron is reduced by the limita- tions of deck space for take-off. In a hypothetical case, a Fleet carrier might at one operation have ready lined-up on deck and then fly off two complete squadrons of fighters; an Escort carrier carrying two whole squadrons of fighters could never operate them in one fly-off, and to get the same air concentration of fighters three and possibly four Escort carriers might be needed to match the big Fleet carrier. Now, four Escorts against one Fleet means a great wastage of manpower. Four Captains, four Commanders, four of each of the executives in all branches; and in the end still short of the essential staff officers borne in the one Fleet carrier. The Escort carrier must, therefore, rate as rather a lame-duck, a makeshift whose utility is limited and whose absorption of manpower can only be justified in an emer- gency situation. On the other hand, it must be equally clear that there is ample scope for a new class of carrier, smaller than the 30,000-ton Indefatigable. It will be noted that the (Continued on p. 183.)
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