BRITISH AND U.S. FIGHTER PLANES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 17 October 1942, Page 5

BRITISH AND U.S. FIGHTER PLANES

QUESTION AS TO RESPECTIVE QUALITIES Washington, Oct. 15. Captain Rickenbacker told the War Department that the fog of confusion regarding the respective qualities of British and American fighter planes was rapidly disappearing. The fact that American pilots in England flew Spitfires was widely misinterpreted as meaning that American fighters were inferior. The facts are that pilots 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 daytime 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 night bombers. Captain Rickenbacker found England had mobilised all her resources for victory and employed all manpower and womanpower in the war effort. He concluded: “From our standpoint the pic ture is as bright as a grim portrait of the war could be.”—P.A.