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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0826.PDF
MAY 22ND, 1947 AwardsT HE KING has been graciously pleasedto approve the following awards: Additional Members of the MilitaryDivision of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.F/L. Wilfred Arthur Wise, R.A.F.V.R., No. 12 Squadron. W/O. Joseph Farrag, R.A.F.V.R.,No. 7 Squadron. W/O. Clifford Street, R.A.F.V.R.,No. 51 Squadron. Prince Bernhard at Tern Hill EARLY on the morning of May 14thPrince Bernhard of the Netherlands arrived at Hendon, and later took off ina Dakota for Tern Hill to present wings to twenty-three cadets of the RoyalNetherlands Air Force. While in England Prince Bernhard will decorateseveral British and Allied pilots. R.A.A.F. in Peacetime ACCORDING to a plan presented to•**• the Australian Cabinet, Australia's permanent peacetime air force will havea strength of 11,900 officers and men and will cost /12,500,000 a year. Before de-mobilization started, the Strength of the K.A.A.F. was 159,000. "603" Over Edinburgh SIX clipped-wing Spitfire XVIs ofNo. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squad- ron, A.A.F., circled Edinburgh on May10th before making a low-level fly-past over Turnhouse to mark the first occa-sion that the Squadron has been air- borne—as a unit—since it was disbandedsoon after the war. As an observer points out, six fighters do not make asquadron, and 603 has far to go before it is back to its old strength and highrank among the country's Auxiliary units. However, the unit has re-formed,and numbers of pre-war air and ground crews have come back to see that thefoundations are firm. The Commanding FLYING COASTAL COLOURS : ABristol Brigand performs at the de ncmstration before the R.A.F.School of Air Support. Royal Air Force and Naval Aviation News and Announcements Officer is S/L. G. K. Gilroy, D.S.O.,D.F.C., and the Hon. Air Commodore is Sir William Y. Darling, M.P., who in-spected the men and the aircraft after the display. Battle of Britain ClaimsI N a reply to a question by Mr. Keeling,Mr. Noel Baker, Secretary of State for Air, has given drastically revisedfigures for the number of enemy aircraft destroyed during the Battle of Britain.The House would agree, he said, that this retrospective correction of claims, whichwere honestly put forward, did nothing to diminish the achievements or to dimthe glory of the men who fought so bravely against great odds. Figures cir-culated showed that during the opening and concluding phases of the battle,while the numbers of aircraft engaged were relatively small and the fighting lesscontinuous and intense, the losses actually inflicted on the enemy werehigher than those claimed by the R.A.F. However, when large forces were en-gaged, and the battle raged without respite for many days, the estimateswere well above the losses which the Luftwaffe sustained. Thus on Septem-ber 15th, 1940, when 185 aircraft were claimed destroyed by the R.A.F. andA.A. Command the real figure was 56 destroyed. Figures for the German losses weretaken from official returns of aircraft re- quired as replacements. Airframe num-bers were quoted, and the Air Ministry accepts the returns as accurate. f' Flight " jftiotoarauh. The following table^-waScontained in a statement circulated by Mr. Noel Baker:— . LOSSES OF GERMAN AIRCRAFT IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN ACCORDING TO CONTEMPORARY R.A.F. ESTIMATES AND OFFICIAL GERMAN RECORDS. I DATE R.A.F. ESTI- MATE 10TH JULY—7TH AUG.—Preliminary Phase of the Battle STH AUG.-23RD AUG.—Attack on Coastal Tar- gets 24TH AUG.-6TH SEPT.—Attacks on Fighter Command Airfields ... 7TH SEPT.-30TH SEPT.—Daylight attack on London chiefly byHeavy Bombers 1ST OCT.-31.ST OCT.—Daylight attack on London chiefly byFighter Bombers TOTAL LOSSES DURING THE BATTLE t-2,692 Des-troyed 188 755 643 846 280 GERMAN Lossts Destroyed 192 (03) 403 (213) 378 (243) 435 (243) 325 (134) 1,733 (890) Dam-aged 127 115 Ifil 1(13 841 DAYS OF MOST INTENSIVE FIGHTING. DATE 15TH AUGUST ... 18TH AUGUST ... 31 ST AUGUST 2SD SEPTEMBER 7TH SEPTEMBER ]5TII SEPTEMBER 27TH SEPTEMBER R.A.F. ESTI- MATE Des-troyed 183155 0466 100185 153 GERMAN L Destroyed 76 (32)71 (30) 39 (32)34 (23) 40 (26)5fl (43) 55 (38) .•"• .••' Dantaged i\ '?;> 14 12 13 21 12 NOTE.—Figures in brackets show Hie losses admittedin communiques issued at tile time by the German Hie!: Command
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