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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1297.PDF
FLIGHT JULY 5TH, I945 WAR IN THE AIR will readily face sharp A.A. fire, and that was met with at Kanchanaburi; but the targets are difficult to hit, and the effort is usually very extravagant in the matter of bombs. That is a consideration when all bombs have to be transported from a distant base. In this case the R.A.F. Liberators made a round trip of nearly 2,000 miles to get the bridges; and when you have carried a bomb for some 1,000 miles it must be very disappoint- . ing to see it score only a near miss. However, on this occasion, the pilots were very confident that the bridges were well and truly destroyed. The pressure on Japan grows ever greater. Okinawa is, a "base from which operations can be launched most conveniently, and that the Japanese realised that fact was shown by the tenacity with which they de- fended the place. Its capture was the toughest job which the Americans have had to undertake. The Superfortresses are gathering round the doomed aggressor like eagles to their prey. Last week nearly 600 of them dropped 4,000 tons on five Japanese centres of industry. • (, Y • *•••••• ".;; HIGH PERFORMANCE AT SEA : Th: U.S. Navy's first twin-engined fighter, theGrumman Tiger Cat is now in production. The Tiger Cat, a modified form of the XP-50 was originally developed from the Skyrocket. Wing-folding for shipboarduse appears to be a problem. Landing and take-off from carrier deck*, must leave - little room for error. The most intensive raid to date. The Australians are pressing ahead in Borneo. Having seized Brunei Bay and the oilfields in the neighbour- hood, they have made a new landing in the south-west at Balikpapan, after' an intensive naval and air bombard- ment. Borneo is one of the largest islands in the world (fifth in area, if we remember aright), but it is claimed that this landing, following on the success in the north, has crushed the Japanese key positions in the island. If Borneo is in Allied hands, then the Japanese in Java and Sumatra are cut off from their base. ..,...„-, . ZEKE 52.—Latest development of the series of Mitsubishi single-seaters which began with the Navy 00 (the original Zero). ThisJap fighter is powered by a 14 cylinder Nakajima Sakae 21 engine. This two-row, air-cooled radial is fitted with a 2-speed super- charger and develops 1,100 h.p. at sea-level. Armament comprises, two 7.7 mm. machine guns and two 20 mm. cannon. Intendedto operate from carriers, the Zeke 52 has the shorter wing-span of the clipped Hamp (model 32) but its tips are rounded. With its light weight of less than 6,000 lb. all-up (it has no armour) the shorter span makes it extremely manoeuvrable, but its top speedof about 370 m.p.h. at 2,000ft. is lower than that of any of the fust-line carrier fighters of the Allies to-day. Range is about ... ', . ..."•_ ".• - 1,500 miles and rate of climb 2,800ft./mm. -:,i IS*
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