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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1322.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .- FOUNDED IOOQ Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. War Correspondent JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices •. DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY: 8 -10, CORPORATION ST. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone : Coventry 52 10. Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). BIRMINGHAM, 2: GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : 260, DEANSGATE. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C.I: 26B, RENFI ELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 4857. I No. 1907, Vol. XLVIII. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. July 12th, 1945 me Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. Bomber Range and EconomyI N the Superfortress (all the available information on which appears on pages 40, 41 and 42) the Americans have undoubtedly produced one of the outstanding military aircraft of this war. Its ability to bomb targets at extreme long range has altered the whole complexion of the campaign in the Far East. By reason of the stepping-stone tactics of the ground forces, enabling airstrips to be built on captured islands, 4he distances to be flown between the forward bases and the targets in Japan get smaller and smaller. Eventu- ally, mostly by virtue of the good work they have done, there must come a time when the Superforts will cease to be economical by reason of insufficient bomb stowage for size of aircraft. It may be at this stage that Bomber Command, now released from duty on the Continent, will put in an appearance to let the Japs feel the weight of really heavy stuff. It would be interesting to know just why the Ameri- cans, even in their latest bombers, adhere to the tier system of bomb stowage. It has so many drawbacks. In the Fortress and Liberator it makes movement between the forward and rear part of the aircraft most difficult for the aircrew, especially when wearing the bulky kit always associated with high flying. This difficulty of movement also occurs in the Super- fortress and the reason is mostly attributable to the position and shape of the bomb bays. It appears as if pressurising was not included in the original layout, otherwise a single complete pressure cabin could have been designed over a horizontal bomb bay. This would have saved compartmentation and inter-connecting tunnels. However, in all types of aircraft where the vertical tier system is used, it cramps choice in both the size of the bombs to be carried and the order of selection over the target. In the British system of single-layer stowage, any bomb can be selected for dropping at any time. One monster missile, many feet long, can be installed in the same space as easily as can thousands of 2 lb. incen- diaries, and the aircrew can move freely up and down an unrestricted fuselage at all times. Good Work by SunderlandsW HEN one comes to think of it, not many types of aircraft have continued to do good service right through the war up to the present day. It would be tedious, and perhaps invidious, to give a list of types which were eminent in 1939, and "now have passed into the limbo of "has-beens." But right from the beginning the Short Sunderland flying boat has always been on the job. Quite early in the war surprise was felt and expressed that a machine whose top speed was never more than 210 m.p.h. should be able to beat off attacks by such German types as the Ju88; for by the time that versatile bomber had got into production the average speed of air warfare had so increased that 210 m.p.h. had come to be considered quite slow. Yet in the June report of operations by S.E.A.C. there is noted a new phase of the campaign against the Japanese, taking the form of intensified attacks by Sunderlands on enemy shipping in the Gulf of Siam. It is a campaign by itself, and in two weeks of June these flying boats sunk by bomb and depth charge more than twenty enemy vessels. Among the victims was a 10,000-ton tanker, the largest ship seen in that neigh- bourhood for many months past. The tanker was escorted ; but, nevertheless, the Sunderlands sent it to the bottom. At the start of the S.E.A.C. operations the flying boats
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