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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1594.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .- FOUNDED WOS> 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. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM, 2 : s in f-ORPORATiON ST GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, 8-10, CORPORATION ST. NAV1GATiON ST. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry S2I0. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : 26 0, DEANSGATE. Telegroms : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C.2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams: Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 48 5 7. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. 6 months, £1 10 6. No. 1912. Vol. XLVIII August 16th, 1945 "We Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. Peace on EarthW HILE on the point of going to press with this week's issue we have not been told officially that Japan has surrendered, although it is diffi- cult to see what else she could do, faced with attacks by Russia in Manchuria and the certainty of more atomic bombs on her homeland. The delay that occurred in replying to the Allies' conditions was probably due to the need, from the Japanese point of view, to save "face." Before he resigned, Mr. Churchill said that he thought the war with Japan might end sooner than had once been considered pos- sible. He knew about the atomic bomb, and without doubt he also knew the intentions of Marshal Stalin. What the various commanders knew is, of course, a secret; but only last Thursday Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten explained to the Press that, though we had beaten Japanese forces in Burma and elsewhere, the bulk of the Japanese Army had not yet been heavily engaged. It was distributed between Japan and China- Japanese troops which have been defeated are, he said, a very different proposition from well-fed and well- equipped Japanese who have not felt the strength of the Allies. Even with Russian help by land it would have, been a tough job to reduce the unbeaten millions of the Japanese Army. Now the task need not, we hope, be undertaken. No more Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen need lose their lives in capturing the last ditch in which Nippon might have held out. That is the first thought in our thankful hearts. Secondly, we shall think of all the thousands of British, Dominion and Allied prisoners in the hands of the barbarous Japanese. Not much news has reached this country since the dreadful day of the surrender of our forces in Singapore—the worst disaster in our mili- tary history, as Mr. Churchill called it. What news has leaked through has told of malnutrition and other forms of brutality. Those who have survived will soon be in # the hands of their loving countrymen once more. Finally, we are glad that it may not be necessary to drop any more atomic bombs. We wanted to reduce the enemy without losing Allied lives; but it is not pleasant to think of th^ women, children and hospitals which must have been swept into annihilation by the force of the bombs. Except for the Russian advance into Manchuria, the most devastating blow has been from the air. Both the German and Japanese wars have been won by the integration of all three elements. The air was the latest to enter the lists. It has been indispensable throughout, and it has fallen to its lot to ring down the curtain. May it be long before it has to fight again. New Air LordsI T is a rule of the British Constitution that a certain proportion of Cabinet Ministers must be in the House of Lords. When Mr. Ramsay MacDonald was en- trusted by the King with the formation of a Cabinet he found some slight difficulty in fulfilling this stipulation. Brig. Gen. Thompson, it will be remembered, rathei reluctantly accepted a peerage, and took the control of the Air Ministry to the Upper House. Mr. Attlee is more fortunate in having found in Viscount Stansgate a member of the Labour Party who has experience of office, has served with gallantry in the Air Force, and was already a peer. As Mr. Wedgwood Benn, M.P., the new Air Minister served in the Yeomanry in the First World War and fought with great gallantry in Gallipoli. He was made a D.S.O. Then he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and in due course won the
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