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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0940.PDF
52O FLIGHT MAY 17TH, 1945 those concerned to see to it that this impressive aircraft is put to good use. Invaluable lessons may be learnt_ even from merely experimental operation of it. So soon as it is ready to go on service, it should be handed over to British Overseas Airways for a series of flights to distant parts of the Empire. Not only would the opera- tional experience thus obtained be extremely useful, but visits by this huge flying boat to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada would provide these countries with convincing proof that the old country is not asleep. The Shetland could have finished its Empire tours by the time some of the commercial landplanes now being built are ready. Thus the visits by the Shetland would occur just at the time when they are most needed. And in very truth this flying boat is a fine example of British aircraft engineering, one of which Britishers the world over can be proud. With its wing span of 150ft. and its total loaded weight of 58 tons, it repre- sents a British high-water mark in size. That it has been possible to produce it without introducing any experi- mental features is, of course, primarily due to the Bristol Centaurus engines which, with their 2,500 h.p. each for take-off are the most powerful engines in the world in actual service. A flying boat of this weight could have been produced by fitting a greater number of smaller engines, but it is almost inevitable that it would have been less efficient, and certainly a great deal more com- plicated. Rockets and GunsU NTIL the Prime Minister broadcast to the country on last Sunday night, probably few people had realised that the Germans had prepared multiple long-range artillery somewhere on the coasts of France and Holland for the bombardment of London. Mr. Churchill spoke of the "grave peril" from them and the V-weapons, and said that had we not blasted the viper in his nest just in time the autumn of 1944 (to say nothing of 1945) might well have seen London as shattered as Berlin. The mention of the long-range guns recalls those known as " Big Bertha," with which the Germans threw a number of shells into Paris towards the end of the first world war. Subsequently some German artillery officers wrote a detailed description of the artillery CONTENTS The Outlook - War in the Air - - Here and There - Lessons of the Air War Short Shetland ... Paying the Piper ... The U.S. Eight Air Force A.T.C. Victory Parade ... Civil Aviation News- - Correspondence - Service Aviation ... 519 521 523 525 529 535 537 338 539 541 542 problems involved, which was published in a British Service magazine—The Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, if we mistake not. It was a highly technical article, and probably oniy artillery officers could fully understand it. From such a distance it wa$i not an easy matter to hit such a target as Paris. Th*^ shells killed a lot of civilians, but, of course, did not subdue France. The life of the guns was very short, for the force generated soon wore out the barrels; and not a great number of shells was fired. In this recent war Dover has suffered much from guns which fired across the Channel; and so cunningly were they mounted that repeated bombardments by heavy bombers failed to knock them out. The sites had to be captured by ground troops after the landing in Nor- mandy. The interesting point about the recent revelation is that the Germans had evidently lost faith in the V- weapons. They were inaccurate, and could not be trusted to hit with certainty even such a huge target as London. ' There is comfort in that thought. Fighter Command could deal with the air torpedo (usually called the flying bomb) but not with the rocket projectile; and the rocket (when improved by scientists) seemed to many of us the gravest danger which menaced our island in the future. Guns admittedly are sometimes very hard to spot and to knock out from the air; but they are more expensive and complicated to produce than are rocket bombs, and they wear out; and they cannot be readily moved from place to place. SHETLAND TO THE FORE : This frontal aspect of Britain's largest flying boal^ the 58-ton Shetland, makes evident its clean lines. A full description of this mighty flying'boat is included in this issue.
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