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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2244.PDF
FLIGHT NOVEMBER 15TH, 1945 been among the last high-speed attempts among the "foothills" of compressibility. The next useful rise in speed will involve technicians and test pilots in more serious rock-climbing. High-speed wind-tunnels lose most of their real value at high Mach numbers as a result of their own " private " shock-wave, so most of this dangerous climbing will necessarily need to be done in full-scale testing of real aircraft. During the next few years test pilots will need all their enthusiasm and courage. . . » . - . Part of the Cost /N OT long ago Washington issued a survey of the figures concerning the Allied bombing offensive against Germany. This survey stated that the Americans lost 79,265 men, while the R.A.F. lost 79,281. How the Americans arrived at this latter figure is not known; but it corresponds fairly closely to the losses in personnel by ^ornbe: Command. The actual losses of Bomber Command ?.rr- \inted to 79,147, made 'up of 64,262 killed, woundec, Trissrrvr and. prisoners of war in air combat, and 518 as batrie casualties on the ground. On active service, but not in battle, the Com- mand lost 12,527 in the air and 1,315 on the ground. In addition, 525 died from natural causes. The American total of 79,265 obviously included those lost in fighter escorts and some other operations. We lev-"" r"cort fighters, too, but they are not included in the ;igi, •.« of Bomber Command. Perhaps the most astonishing figure in the British list h that of 8,088 killed in the air but not in battle; but in air combat we lost the appalling figure of 39,291 killed. Yet the British public has all along been assured that the blows struck at enemy war production by the bombing offensive were achieved more cheaply than they "•• CONTENTS '.. The Outlook - - •- •• ••-.' '•-" How the Record was Made •'..'- . - ' Revelations at Farnborough %-! > Here and There - • -. - • -." •'.'"--• Flying the Blenheim •••-.. ' v» ':. Correspondence - '--•" I- '--• Halifax A-IX Airborne Transport Hamilcar X - .'.„... Civil Aviation News /• \ '. - - :• "'*. — Nationalisation • • .» -. --: - Atomic Energy - • - . ' '» J »". .. Service Aviation - -.'...- „••"•'•—•_.:';- •, • 517 519 523 527 527, a & b 529 530 532 534 535 537 '•,-. 540 could have been achieved in any other way. There is no means of calculating how many more men the Army would Mve lost if German production had not been hit so ''•••"•; r>" '' was from the air, but that the figure would have b> 'ugh there is little doubt. One p- '-^ may be gratefully conceded to the Americans. :iar"•• •'•/, their damaging attacks on German fghter factories. These did a very great deal to make easier" the irvasion of the Continent, for they helped to make pos?;b!e the Allied supremacy in the air, which d.-rpended on the fighters. That gave freedom to the bombers, both those of Bomber Command and those of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, to hamstring the German efforts to check the advance of General Eisenhower's Armies. In the years to come, it may be that those in a position to judge will argue whether the collapse of Germany was due more to the efforts of Bomber Command or to those of the Tactical Air Force. RECORD "CO-PILOTS '' : "••. Eric S. Greenwood leaves the c^nit of the yellow Meteor after making his high-speed runs, and Group Capt. H. ., V'iison enters Britannia prior 'c i: r successful share in the record attempts. Shirt ' sleeves and utilitarian bracsss v'e-c *he order of the short flying Ce.y. TIi« record aircraft is seen above on one of its runs.
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