24-HOUR BOMBING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20917, 17 October 1942, Page 3

24-HOUR BOMBING

BRITISH & U.S. FORCES OBJECTIVE IN EUROPE MERITS OF FIGHTERS (9.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. IG. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, an American ace in the last war, who has completed a survey of the European •front, told the War Department that the fog of confusion regarding the respective qualities of British and American lighter planes was rapidly disappearing. American pilots in England flew Spitfires because Spitfires were available. Thus, American fighters, instead of going to England, could be sent elsewhere. The British were continuing the. production of long-range night bombers. “British night bombing and American day-time precision bombing will complement each other into a round-the-clock bombardment in which day bombers will serve as pathfinders, setting fire to enemy targets and providing beacons for the night bombers,” he said. Captain Rickenbacker found that England had mobilised all resources for victory and had employed all manpower for the war effort. ‘‘From our standpoint the picture is as bright as a grim portrait of war could be,” he added.