"ROCKET BOMBS" ARE BETTER THAN DIVE-BOMBERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 84, 29 July 1942, Page 2

"ROCKET BOMBS" ARE BETTER THAN DIVE-BOMBERS

The magazine Aeroplane said the Russians are. using "rocket bombs" which are far more-effective againsi tanks than are dive-bombers. The publication whivh sometimes re-Heels the views of Britain's leading aircraft planners said "divebombing has had its day" and called the. rocket bomb "possibly the most important tactical advance in air weapons" since the Avar began. The rocket bomb, it explained, is slung on the guide rail under either the Hurricane's or tile Stormovik's wing. When the target is sighted an electrical tiring button is pressed and the bomb projected by a rocket apparatus in its tail. The effect, said Aeroplane, is "much the same as that of a verv large, law-velocity cannon ball." which "is much faster than a gravitydropped bomb. The advantages of these bombs, the magazine said, lies in their greater hitting power and accuracy as compared with dive-bombing or low-level attacks. It added that there Ave re disadvantages in the fact that the rocket apparatus obviously reduces the weight of the charge in the bomb, and, compared with a lighter armed with a big cannon, relatively few projjc-ctiles can be carried. The Germans, who had devoted extensive research to rocket develop-, ment, are known to be using rocket bombs. They have been reported at Malta, where the Germans have been trying to increase the speed of their bombs- in order to penetrate more ( deeply as a threat to the rock shelt- , ers. !