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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1685.PDF
212 FLIGHT AUGUST 23RD, 1945 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. AIR POWER It Mas Now Won a War • rr*HOSE who have put their trust in air power may now sit•i- back and pat themselves on the back : for the first time in history an air weapon has more or less won a war. I con-sider that the sudden Jap peace moves were brought about 40 per cent, by the entry of the Russians and 60 per cent, bythe atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This docs not mean that the steady "slogging" of thearmies through Burma, and the " hopping" from one island to another was useless—far from it. Without their efforts nobases would have been available from which to transport this bomb to the enemy's lair.The Japanese negotiations tor peace only give me one cause for regret—we will not be able to prove that the Avro Lincolnis as good as (if not better than) the Superfortress. To change the subject, may I thank Flight very sincerely forthe words under the photograph of the Lockheed Shooting Star, pointing out that the D.H. Vampire is not lagging behind.*I don't want to quarrel with America, but didn't the Shooting Star begin its career at 800 m.p.h. ? Why is it now doing550 ? I believe in publicity, but too many people believe these tales. The old advertisement, "Buy British, buy best," stillholds good. R. E. GREGORY. Land-based or Carrier-based [AVING written a good deal on the subject oi " BattleshipsL and Bombs," I was interested to read Lieutenant-Com- mander J. B. Hurren's "Analysis of Results "(Flight, August2nd). I fully agree with his statement of the urgent need to decidenow how our defence budget is to be spent, and particularly how it is to be proportioned between aircraft and warships.This has been an urgent question for about twenty years. It is possible that if the millions spent on the Prince of Wales andRepulse had been used instead to build up a system of air defence for Northern Australia and Singapore, the Japaneseinvasion of that part oi the world might never have succeeded. The conclusion that sea-based air-power is not inferior toland-based air-power, seems, however, to be based on false premises. Lieutenant-Commander Hurren admits, apparently,that the carrier-borne Hellcat is inferior to, say, the Spitfire, Tempest, Mustang or Thunderbolt; and he says that in spiteof this, carrier-borne raids have been successfully made over the heart of Japan. This can only be admitted as proof of his theory if we alsoadmit that the Japanese aircraft and pilots are the equal of our own, and that they are still at the height of their power. The Japanese war was a useful guide in making our decisionon air-power, but it is likely to be an unbalanced decision unless we also ask ourselves: "Could we have succeeded insuch a carrier-borne attack against the Luftwaffe at its best? E. N. B. BENTLEY (A.F.R.Ae.S.). AIR TRAVEL Comparative CostsI THINK it is generally agreed that the lay Press is often" lacking " when it comes to deal with aviation. With all due respect to Mr. Peter Masefield, it seems thatthis still applies occasionally, even when the writer concerned is of known repute. In the C.M.F. Army newspaper Crusader of July 22nd, Mr.Masefield writes, in an otherwise excellent article on air transport: —" Our first aim must be to equal in the air—by technical progress and not by subsidy—the cost of first-class travel byother means of transport. That aim has been achieved on some routes already On others much still remains to be done.Even when it is achieved eveiywhere the results will still not be good enough, because air travel for six hours will still costus much more than rail or sea travel would for an equal time. What we want to do—what must be our technical aim—is to(this is in italics in the article) make a six-hour journey by air as cheap as a six-hour journey by train (first class)." In other words, the cost of travelling from London to Edin-burgh by train would be the same as that for air travel from London to Cairo. One wonders who would be travelling on the railways insuch circumstances! It appears that Mr. Masefield has based this statement on the ielative " efficiency " figure of aircraftcompared with the steam locomotive or steamship. Exactly what such theoretical reasonings are worth is adebatable point, but it would seem that the paragraph quoted is hardly the type of writing best suited to introduce the Armyto the whys and wherefores of air transport. " DOUGLAS DEANS." MORE SPACE WANTED Existing Facilities WastedI T was with some satisfaction that I read "Indicator's"article, " More Space Wanted," in Flight, August 2nd. All the difficulties that "Indicator" mentions, which aircraftmanufacturers may have to face., are non-existent at one bw plant in the North-west. Yet this factory, built before tj£war alongside Liverpool Airport, and one of the biggest aircraft plants in the country, has ceased its legitimate work and isnow to be used making rubber goods ! It is high time that a bit more common sense was used bythose responsible for the re-allocation of Government war plants. Surely they could make rubber clothing, tennis balls,tyres, etc., in one of the hundreds of munition factories located in areas far from any airfields, and so avoid the utter waste ofnational aircraft-manufacturing capacity. W. G. ROBERTS. R.O.C. Fate of " B " Category Observers AS late members of the R.O.C.. we pen this letter in the hope**• that its publication might encourage the authorities con- rerned to make some statement as to the ultimate fate of thatbody. We say "late members" because, although we signed on,or rather volunteered, for further possible duty (unpaid) in the future, our dismissal at almost a moment's notice ("B"category, of course) has given us the impression that authority is now no longer interested in our future activities. Nothingfurjher has been heard since we were disbanded, and even the inter-Services journal is now denied us. Although we have no quarrel with "A" personnel as such,we fail to see the reason for the apparent discrimination that is shown between " A" and "B" categories, who, after all,were both doing the same job. Further, it would seem that, from information obtainable,the recent rally for the R.O.C. at North Weald was attended in the majority by officers, head and leading observers, masterspotters and seaborne personnel. We have even been informed that participants from one group were limited to leading ranksand officers. While we fully appreciate that it would have been impossiblefor every observer to have been invited, we do feel that group rallies could have been arranged to give the ordinary observesat least_a chance to see the "R.A.F. at closer quarters than "zero 100." Surprising as it may seem, there are still manyobservers who are keen and interested enough to continue the acquisiton of aeronautical knowledge. It might be of interest to add that, despite nearly two years'service in the corps, not once were the undersigned permitted, or even given an opportunity, to visit an R.A.F. station, letalone given the chance to inspect captured enemy aircraft This despite the fact that we served in one of the busiestgroups both for friendly and hostile types, and much concern was shown if we failed to obtain full marks in every monthlyrecognition test. * To cap all, we have just learned that a display of aircraftand flying is to be provided for our group, which, however, is restricted to "A" personnel from Centre only. It seems, therefore, that while authority was very concernedabout our efficiency a few short months ago, there now appears to be a complete reversal of policy.We suppose that the retort we shall receive to this somewhat lengthy (but, in our opinion, justified) grouse is thatmechanical weapons of the V2 type will now make the R.O.C. as such obsolescent. "TWO VERY BROWNED-OFF EX-P.B.O.s."
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