A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 30, 30 October 1942, Page 4

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Aircraft Design, BRITAIN KEEPS AHEAD OF THE AXIS

Perhaps the most interesting de-

velopments in the means of making war which have revealed themselves in the campaigns of 1942 to date have been in the realm of air attack. This is probably natural, since the air arni is the youngest of the three services. The strides made in aircraft performance since 1939 hare been remarkable. Britain entered the war with, the Vickers Wellington as her ace bomber. This aircraft, constructed on the geodetic frame system, carried a bomb load of two tons on normal loading and a little more, possibly three tons, at a sacrifice of combat range. Its speed was little more than 200 miles an hour, with a normal crew of five. It had a notable defect, a blind spot against which enemy fighters could attack without danger of retaliatiou by the bomber’s guns. When attacked it had to go down to hedge-hop height to avoid this.

It is a far cry from the Wellingtons to the latest Avro Lancasters, heroes of the daylight raids on le Creusot and Milan. The Lancaster has a full-load speed of approximately 300 miles an hour, carries the huge bomb load of more than seven tons, and is able, with reasonable chance of success, to withstand efficient fighter counter-attack. Ten machineguns in power turrets, including one of. the turrets in its belly, make it far less vulnerable to attack from beneath, the Wellington’s great weakness. Medium And Light Bombers It is not only in the heavy bomber class that great advance has been achieved. The Mosquito, of which details have now been released, is an entirely new departure in recent combat craft construction. Based, on the famous de Haviliand Comet, which so distinguished itself in the Macßobertson air race to Australia aud later was flown by Clouston and Ricketts from England to New Zealand, it is of wooden construction. That, however, is not its greatest claim to notice. Its speed is something remarkable for a light bomber. The official description released in the British Official Wireless failed to mention speed beyond saying it was one of the fastest aeroplanes. In a recent Daventry broadcast, however, it was mentioned that during the raid on Oslo, its “coming out” operation, the Mosquito flew away from the German Focke-Wulf fighters which tried to attack it. This means that its speed must be well above 400 miles an hour, for the Focke-Wulf is said to be Germany’s fastest fighter. It would appear that, being a twoman craft, the Mosquito may later develop into a long-distance fighter, capable of use as a protective craft to daylight attacking heavy bombers. This might well revolutionize the R.A.E. strategy of attack against German industry. Fighter Development

In the class of fighter aircraft, the years since 1939 have shown less notable advance, possibly because Britain began the war with two very high standard craft in the Hurricane and Spitfire.. These two aircraft, though improved in the light of experience, and slightly increased in speed, still remain the mainstays of the R.A.F. fighter squadrons. There have, of course, been hints of other, better, craft, perfected and ready for production, but nothing has yet been mentioned, either of type or performance. The development in the fighter class has rather been in the direction of the provision of greater range capability. The new Mustangs, of which, little is yet known, have got this necessary range increase, but whether speed and manoeuvrability have had to be sacrificed to get it cannot be said. Axis Types We hear little of new German bomber types, though, there has been undoubted improvement in both range and perfortianco of the bigger types used for long-distance anti-convoy work. It is doubtful, however, if the Luftwaffe has anything at its disposal which would measure up to the Lancaster in the heavy class or the Mosquito in the light class. In the fighter class the Luftwaffe has always tended to have the edge bn the R.A.F. in one phase of performance, that of ceiling, and it seems that the Focke-Wulf, the latest known development of German aircraft designers, carries on this tradition by being able to fly a few hundred feet above the ceiling of the Spitfires and the Hurricanes. In the other phases of performance, though a high-class type, it would appear still to be behind the British types, specially in manoeuvrability. Italian aircraft designers have been definitely left behind by British and German designers, and the quality of aircraft used by the Regia Aeronautica is poor in comparison. Japan has one very good fighter of the O type, commonly called the Zero. This has proved a difficult craft for the opposing British. Australian and United States aircraft, even for the P4o’s of the United States Army Air Corps, pilots of which have been heard to express a wish to see what they themselves could do with a Zero instead of the Japanese pilots. It would appear that on the whole the RA.F. is maintaining its aircraft superiority over the Luftwaffe, if not increasing its lead. This, with the obviously increasing part of aircraft in battle decision, is a good augury for the great climaxes the next year or so will bring.