WAR IN THE AIR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 123, 30 June 1941, Page 6

WAR IN THE AIR

REVIEW OF PLANE LOSSES GERMAN OUTPUT, NOW EXCEEDED Sir Archibald Sinclair's review ol air losses in the last four months is encouraging x in itself, and becomes more so when taken in conjunction with figures of production, says the military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. The revelation that 1131 Axis planes were destroyed as compared with 360 British machines leaves no doubt that the qualitative superiority of British warplanes and personnel is being amply maintained, be causci. in many cases, the R.A.F. are operating under particularly disadvantageous conditions, wlvreas the. Germans had the advantage of more bases, more rapid relief for air crews, and internal communication lines. Meanwhile, Britain's quantitative position is being steadily improved. Although strikes in the United States caused a perceptible recession in American output last month, there is every reason to believe that the combined production of Britain and the United Slates now exceeds the. German output, possibly by a considerable margin. The actual figures of production, however, do not in themselves tell the whole, story. Tho distribution into types is even more important than the aggregate position: and in this respect the position is) equally hopeful. Britain's new.fighters have proven most satisfactory. This is seen by the "sweeps" in daylight, by the constant increase in the range of fighter patrols and by thei fact that Ge "man fighters are now kept on the European side of the. Channel. The bomber position, for long a British weakness. is meanwhile staadih' improving. In addition to the British Manchester;? and Sterlings. American types such as the new Douglas giants, the Consolidated Liberators, and the Boeing Flying Fortresses arc coming into service. The tremendous increase in the loads carried by bombers attacking Germany makes each of the new fom-cngi.ned bombers equivalent in destructive power to several of the bombers on which the R.A.F. had to rely last year. The detailsi just released of the new dive-bomber typify the rapid strides I-eing made in the quality of American aeronautical design, for this Avill be the best dive-bomber in the world, relegating the Stukas to'' a distincth r inferior status. That production is keeping pacei with design is suggested bj r the report that no fewer than 100 Curtis T'omahawks have already been delivered to Britain and the Middle East; and this 1 precedent, extended, to other types, encourages the hope that Britain will have both qualitative and quantitative aerial superiority in the not-too-remote future.