GERMAN AIR PLANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20116, 9 December 1939, Page 3

GERMAN AIR PLANS

FLIGHTS OVER BRITAIN PUBLIC PUZZLED HUGE FORCES IDLE LONDON. Nov. 26., All Britain is guessing whether the partially successful reconnaissance flights: by German planes over Britain are the prelude to a great German air offensive, or arc merely an attempt to put the British public and its defenders in a state of nervous expectation. Speculation is becoming increasingly keen as the result of magneticmines being sown in the Channel by German airmen, a feat which, it is agreed, is being carried <>ui with a certain amount of daring and skill It is accepted that, like the British and ?Tench reconnaissance machines, those of the Germans are specially fitted for photographic duties. German newspapers have already published photographs of the Firth oi Forth, which were taken during a recent raid, showing British warships anchored or steaming. Tlie weekly' journal, Aeroplane, in reviewing the aerial' warfare, says: “A great air offensive may begin at any time, but there is no more indication of that start than there has been at any time during the past two months —nor is there any indication that mass attacks may be indefinitely postponed” Caution of Experts This comment epitomises the general feeling, which, among the public, amounts to puzzlement, and, among the experts, amounts to extreme caution and watchfulness, since the R.A.F. can only guess at Germany's intentions. Undoubtedly, it Germany invaded 1-Icliand or Belgium, then an aerial war would start in earnest immediately, because Britain and France could give Holland and Belgium aid which they could never have given to Poland, and because the German Air Force could never be permitted to gain command of the skies so close to British shores. In the meantime, many thousands of aeroplanes and pilots are idle on both sides, except for practice flying, although they are all ready to take off at a moment's warning, for mass attacks. Experts agree that every British, French, and German factory is_ working overtime, and turning out more machines daily, thus increasing the aerial might of each nation, while research departments are concentrating on improvement in speed, because the chief lesson, already learned, is the need for greater speed. Allies’ Superiority Sharply contrasting with Germany's claim of air mastery over Britain and France, Colonel Charles Morice. the military correspondent of the Paris newspaper, Petit Parisien. discussing the enormous strides made by British and French aviation, says: "Enemy aviation is destined to see its lead rapidly reduced, not only in numbers, but also in quality." Colonel Morice adds that at the beginning of the war Germany possessed, probably thousands of Messerschmitts, but she has lost a great number in Poland and on the Western Front

"Those still in service are greatly outclassed by our,Curtiss and Morarumachines, which possess improvements lacking in the new Messerschmitts,” he says.

Colonel Morice predicts that before the spring new models will appear in Britain and France, and he declares that the Allies are manufacturing, in mass, remarkable aeroplanes, the superiority of which over the enemy’s best model will be demonstrated in the first encounters.