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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1781.PDF
252 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 6TH, ig.45 CLEAR UPPER DECK with envied decorations as a reminder of their sea service. In short, whereas the Navy has from time immemorial been familiar with the term "Clear Lower Deck." a pipe which required everybody aft, for some special assembly, it is now apparent that the upper deck has been cleared, and it may not be inappropriate to suggest that its signifi- cance is that everybody is going forward*/ Now here is where the parallel with tKe last war arises. Post 1918 the "experts" averred the bomb would banish the ship, and a study of staff ideas reveals that many air optimists fervently believed that 250-lb. bombs would not only beat all ships but utterly destroy all German in- dustry. Indeed, one of the most interesting things for the air historians to write about would be the air staff plan for 1939: it will be more than an eye-opener now we know the results of bombing by bombs *i6, 48 and 88 times as large! We finish this war wjth the same gloomy—or sunny— prognostications. The atomic explosion is here, they say. The army experts assert it will banish fleets and air forces when they .get their atomic shell. The air experts predict the atomic bomb will make armies and fleets obsolete, even quite unnecessary. The navy experts foreshadow that with better aircraft carriers the atomic bomber will not even approach the Fleet, which must remain as the prime guardian of our supply routes and communications. These things will, in time, be resolved ; but in the mean- time, with the dreadful lessons, of the last war's aftermath to study, we must hope that our new statesmen will not be unduly swayed by the glittering mirage which atomic explosions presents in many fields of defence and attack. As one of the senior members of the Board of Admiralty is wont to say: "If in fog maintain your coursjs—you can alter speed, but you are lost if you alter cot DISPOSING OF THE LUFTWAFFES BOMBS ONE of the most important jobs in the business of tidyingup Germany and the European countries previously occu-pied by the enemy is at present providing very full-time employment for thirteen Air Disarmament Wings. German air- fields and factories in Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Norway, as well as in Germany itself, where equipment for the Luftwaffe was produced, are the scene of operations by these special units. Their job falls into several categories, including the disband- ment of Luftwaffe personnel, the identification of new inven- tions and items of equipment, the segregation of material useful to our own Forces—such as transport aircraft—and the dispos- ing of material which is dangerous. In the last-named category comes the task of destroying in- cendiary and H.E, bombs, and recently 1,000 hilos of phosphorus and 750 kilos of H.E. were blown up together for the first time ; previously the two types had been dealt with separately. (Above) German prisoners unloading "whistling " bombs to be destroyed.Some 88,000 personnel of the Luftwaffe, with their own officers and N.C.O's, are still quprtered on their airfields under the orders of the Air Disarmament Wings.(Right) Phosphorus incendiary bombs and H.E. bombs are ranged in mixed groups for simultaneous disposal and—(Top right) They produce quite an impressive pyrotechnic dispkv duly "touched off" from a comfortable distan< ~"~
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