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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0952.PDF
528 FLIGHT MAY 17TH, 1 LESSONS OF THE AIR WAR details of how it was done have not been re- vealed. Some day, not a very remote day we hope, they should make very interesting read- ing. The actual minor tactics employed by the Wings and Squadrons in dealing with various sorts of German formations are also a secret to be disclosed some day. We all.know that it is desirable to attack from above, and to dive out of the sun ; but there is much more to it than that. Skilful leaders of Groups and Wings were able to impose their will upon the enemy, and make him fight as they wanted him to do. In the main it may be said that the object was to destroy enemy bombers with- out giving a free hand to the escort of Messer- schmitts overhead. Sometimes, however, the best tactics were for the front rank (so to speak) of British fighters to attack the escort and disorganise it, leaving the bombers unprotected to be dealt with by our second and third lines. All planning, of course, depended on prompt informa- tion and plotting of approaching raids. The Germans did not know, nor did the British public at that time, that Diagrammatic layout of the cone of fire of one of our eight-gun fighters with which we fought the Battle of Britain. "7 The Merlin engine which equipped all our eight-gun fighters was the envy of the air forces of the world. we were using radiolocation. Quite possibly that inven tion saved us from disaster. None the less, great credi. is due to the "Royal Observer Corps, which worked cease- lessly and hard to report the approach and the course of the raids. Its work was invaluable. The Battle of Britain may justly be deemed one of the decisive battles of the world. Had it been lost, freedom, too, would have been lost, perhaps for all the world. We might well have had a Buchenwald* in Kent. In the Battle of Britain the R.A.F. lost 375 pilots killed and 358 wounded. Between August 8th and October 31st they destroyed in daylight 2,375 German and Italian aircraft. While writing about the holding of bases, we should not forget another island base—Malta. On the holding of that base depended all our Mediter- It, too, was held by fighters; not by hundreds of them but by dozens or even half-dozens. While it was held it broke the Axis plans for an enormous pincers movement towards the East. 'One lesson the British people have learnt and must not torget. Victory is not possible without air power; air power cannot be brought to bear without air superiority; and air superiority must be won mainly by fighters. (Another article will appear next week.) ranean strategy. Although only a four-gun fighter (two in the fuselage and one under each bottom wing) the Gladiator did some won- derful work in Norway and Malta. FIGHTER COMMAND TT is announced that Air Marshal Sir Roderic Hill, x K.C.B., M.C., A.F.C., will relinquish his position -*, A.O.C.-in-C, Fighter Command, on appointment to ti*# Air Council as Air Member for Training vice Air Marshal Sir P. Drummond. He will be succeeded by Air Marshal Sir James M. Robb, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C. Sir Roderic Hill has commanded Fighter Command since October, 1944. In the last war he commenced his service in the Royal Fusiliers, but in 1916 joined the R.F.C. After the war he commanded No. 45 Squadron in Iraq, and wrote an excellent book, The Baghdad Air Mail. Later he was an instructor at the R.A.F. Staff College, and for two years was Air A.D.C. to the King., He was .for a time Chief Instructor to the Oxford University Air Squadron, but in 1936 went to command the R.A.F. in Palestine and Transjordan. In 1938 he was D.T.D., and later Director- General of Research and Development. Sir James Robb enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1914, gained a commission, and in 1916 joined the R.F.C. In 1926 he commanded No. 3 Squadron. In 1932 he passed through the Naval Staff College. He also served with the Fleet Air Arm. In 1936 he became Commandant of the Central Flying School. Recently he has been Deputy Chief of Staff (Air) at S.H.A.E.F.
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