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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0014.PDF
14 FLIGHT, 7 January 1955 HIGH-LIFT GENERATION . . . Fig. 10. Position of stagnation points at a rounded aerofoil tail (according to Regen- scbeit). lift limit, the excess lift becomes independent of incidence and camber; it is then termed "forced" or "supercirculation." At present, no use is made of it. Supercirculation is characterized by flow around the aerofoiltail end. This flow is opposite to that described in connection with defective circulation, and is always in the sense of the circula-tion. Hence the aft stagnation point approaches the front one along the ventral surface. In practice, supercirculation is generally notcompatible with a sharp trailing edge; the latter counteracts and destroys supercirculation. This has been the cause for the failureof many attempts to achieve high lift in a practical way. Slow-flying, Direct-lifting Aeroplanes.—To develop aeroplaneswhich are capable of competing with the helicopter, three requirements will have to be satisfied:— (1) High specific lift.(2) Abolition of the stall, or, at least, incidence of incipient stall remote from operational maximum lifts.(3) Lift generation at zero forward speed. It can be shown that these three requirements are not beyondour reach. Aeroplanes with such features will, of course, be rather different from the customary high-speed type; and, in many ways,basic research is involved. (Part 2 will be published next week) TV's AIR WAR: JAPAN AND GERMANY '"THE control of the air precedes control of the sea" was the •*• maxim with which the Japanese entered the war in 1941.This phase was covered by The Rising Sun, Episode 7 of the B.B.C. Television film, War in the Air.The effectiveness of the maxim may be judged by the fact that within five months the Japanese were masters of the East. Sunkwere the mighty British warships Prince of Wales and Repulse, protected by destroyers but not aircraft; lost was Hongkong, theair defence of which was pitiful; lost, too, were Singapore and the rich islands of South East Asia from which Britain had beendrawing vital sinews of war. The film included many interesting sequences of captured filmdepicting enemy air activity, particularly shots showing prepara- tions for and taken during the attack on Pearl Harbour. AichiVal (Navy 99) dive-bombers and Nakajima Kate (Navy 97) torpedo bombers were shown taking off from some of the sixcarriers taking part in the attack, together with Mitsubishi Zeke (Navy 0) fighters fitted with long range tanks. The extrememanoeuvrability of this fighter—the famous "Zero"—was one of the many unpleasant surprises that the Japanese sprang on theAllies from that fateful December 7th onwards. By May 1942 the Japs were advancing across Burma towardsIndia—the right claw of a gigantic pincer movement designed to meet Rommel's Afrika Corps in the Middle East. Opposingthem were but thirty-seven operational aircraft! Throughout India there were only four R.A.F. operational groups, thoughwith reinforcements coming in slowly a start was made to build our strength up to six groups, the five squadrons to 26. Thearrival of Spitfires was depicted in the film and their role— reconnaissance—stressed. The value of reconnaissance was proved when, on Easter Sun-day, 1942, the Japanese struck again; this time at Ceylon. First spotted by Catalinas, the Japanese carrier-borne force receivedsuch a hot reception from the guns of the Far Eastern Fleet and the few aircraft (Hurricanes) available that they turned tail, losingmany valuable pilots in the process. This important attack has not been publicized before and one would have liked more detailsand a balance-sheet of the results. After Ceylon came the great battle of the Coral Sea, notablebecause it was the first naval action in which opposing ships did not sight each other, each side striking with aircraft, while theother was still below the horizon. In June the Japanese turned to attack Midway Island with avery strong force of five carriers (including four that took part in the attack on Pearl Harbour) and seven battleships, supportedby cruisers and destroyers. Once again Allied reconnaissance aircraft denied them the element of surprise and, in the laconicwords of an American officer "The Nips lost a hell of a lot more than we did, and beat it back home." Japanese losses were, infact, four carriers and one cruiser, while the Americans lost the carrier Yorktown. This battle was depicted with several spectacu-lar shots of Japanese aircraft being shot down by heavy anti- aircraft fire—scenes certainly emphasizing the value of havingtrained cine-cameramen available on such occasions. The outstanding feature of the film was that air control wasexercised on both sides almost entirely by carrier-borne aircraft. By this time the aircraft carrier had become the capital ship ofthe Allied fleets; the Allies had learnt their lesson from the Japanese. This film must have given many viewers the chance of a directcomparison with the American film Victory at Sea, which, tele- vised two years ago, covered the same actions. The earlier filmdevoted no fewer than four episodes to the events covered in The Rising Sun. It is thus obvious that events were covered much more briefly in the British film. Thus, the battle for Midway Island—one ofthe most decisive in naval history—was almost glossed over. In the earlier film it occupied the best part of an entire episode andfull details were given of the role and order of attack of the B-17s, Avengers and dive-bombers used in the U.S. attack.In The Rising Sun tantalizingly brief glimpses were shown of interesting types such as three stubby Martin 166 twin-enginedbombers in formation, Nells (Navy 96) attacking Singapore, a Pete (Navy 0) floatplane catapulted from a ship, and a Japanesepilot, complete with sword, clambering into his aircraft. Many of the shots were so brief that only the most expert ofspotters, or those having previous knowledge of the types used in the actions, could have identified the aircraft seen, with any degreeof certainty. Air Power Over Germany. In 1940 the Luftwaffe sowed thewind; but by 1943 it was Germany that was reaping the whirl- wind. This was graphically illustrated in Round the Clock,Episode 8 of the film. Probably the best of the series so far, this instalment carried on the story of the bombing of Germanyfrom Episode 4 up to the beginning of 1944. Brief descriptions of the bad-weather radar aids H,S (self-contained, and used for the general location of targets) and Oboe, (much more accurate and used by the Pathfinders to indicatethe actual targets) were given—descriptions which must have been of great interest to those who knew them only as secrets. The film covered the work of Bomber Command and theU.S. 8th Army Air Force by showing sequences depicting a typical raid by each force. The Met. recce, by Mosquitoes ofthe Pathfinder Force, which preceded each R.A.F. raid, was shown; there followed briefing instructions, Lancasters bombingup with 8,000 lb block-busters, the take-off at dusk, brief shots of German night fighter pilots scrambling and, finally, aerialviews taken over Essen during an attack by 400 "heavies." Bomber Command's specialized attacks on selected targets ofstrategic importance during this period were epitomized by the famous raid on the Moehne and Eder dams. Torpedoes couldnot be used as the dams were protected by steel netting, and the use of the special "skipping" mines developed by B. N.Wallis was revealed for the first time. The training sequences and "stills" shown were genuine, but shots depicting the raids weretaken from the film The Dam Busters (not yet released). The daylight attacks by the U.S. Army Air Force were aimedmainly at the whittling down of enemy fighter strength, whether in the air, on the ground, or under construction. Americanlosses were heavy and, by 1943, long-range fighter escorts were provided whenever possible. MelO9s and Fwl90s were showntaking off to intercept the B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators, as the Luftwaffe attempted to repeat the success ofthe R.A.F. during the Battle of Britain. The camera-gun shots taken during the ensuing air battles were some of the clearestso far seen in the series. Easily identified was an Fwl90 being shot down; a B-17 attacked from astern, catching fire and fallingto pieces; a P-47 Thunderbolt after an Fwl90; an MelO9 rolling smoothly after one wing had been shot off; and, most spectacularof all, a head-on attack on a B-17, the hits from the attacking fighter's cannon being easily visible. The shooting-up tactics of the escorting fighters on the wa>home included many camera-gun shots of aircraft being straffec on the ground, trains blowing up, and a spectacular shot of arFwl90 exploding over an airfield. This was the pattern of the Allied air onslaught against Germanyand which by 1944 had laid waste some 30,000 acres in 50 towns Even so, German output of arms was actually higher than iwas at the beginning of 1943. But this was not to last. Germany was on the defensive, and the Battle of Berlin was about to begin M.F.A.
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