AIR WARFARE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 8

AIR WARFARE

TECHNICAL TERMS SHOOTING DOWN RAIDERS PILOTS WHO ''BALE OUT" Semi-technical terms connected with air i warfare that frequently occur in reports frprn overseas have puzzled some readers. Confusion has also been caused (slates the New Zealand Herald) by reports of the use of armour to Qrotect certain vital parts of aeroplanes, and by subsequent statements that machines so protected have been shot down. . ','- : There are ■■ two principal means by which aircraft are shot down, Fighter aircraft of the defending'forces almost invariably takes the heayiest;.toll. and anti-aircraft .guns account. ;fpt the remainder, although occasionally ma-chine-guns fired from theigrdund bring dowha machine.- and at .least one German craft has fallen -victim to weiljudged rifle fire. ■>;. ''':'\ .';'■-/..; v;-;-:'.' ; Tei*rifl^'';| , ir(E! > ')e.dwer Although many Qe'rman aircraft carry armour-protection for pilots and certain vital parts, and have self-seal-ing petrol tanks that prevent loss of fuel even if directly hit by a bullet, they are by no;means proof against the terrific fire-power of Britain's fighters. The two principal righting aircraft used by the Royal Air Force are the Superi marine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane. Each carries ; eight Browning i machine-guns, capjableiof delivering concentrated fire at the. rate of 9600 rounds a minute. ''*,!;,'-, Fighter pilots, who -usually have machines much faster than those they are attacking, often begin: their attack from behind, and slightly above the enemy. All eight machine-guns are by one button;-and instead of aiming the guns, which are fixed in the wing, at the. target, the., fighter pilot aims his whole: machine; A'.special sighting, device assists him,- 'and his ■ endeavour is to pour-heavy fiEfe into the 'engines,-petrol; tanks"and *sigsy of the enemy machine. -vvv r■'■:■■■■<■;■■%■■:■■<>■■■■ ■-" :/;^H-'' ; , Wr 'vT:: Explosion drShSells f .; So great is the fire-power that, many a German aeroplane, caught in.,- the stream of bullets from a British fighter's, eight guns, has been 'cut in'halves. Others have lost half a .wing or- : their tail; : '-immediately:,becoming v.uncohtrollable! and falling" id destructionS-It i? possible that the machine will be damaged in such a manner that its pilot is forced to land, and on the other hsnd the machine may escape fairly lightly, but the pilot may be killed. In either case the machines come down and is officially described as. having been shot down. Comparatively few direct hits are registered by anti-aircraft guns.- The shells explode with tremendous effect, however, and the blast of the explosion is often enough to cause such damage that the pilot has to descend. " Baling out" is the expressive term used to describe a flyer's leap from his doomed aeroplane, in an attempt to save himself by parachute. Every member of an air crew wears a parachute.