New Light is Thrown On Zeros' And Kittyhawks' Merits

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1942, Page 3

New Light is Thrown On Zeros' And Kittyhawks' Merits

By Our Special Observer.

Darwin figures suggest earlier assertions were wrong.

Arguments about which is the best aeroplane in service continue, and the latest evidence from Darwin carries different inmplications from those put forward by observers on the front a month or so ago. It will be recalled that correspondents were then saying that Allied fighter aircraft were unable to deal with the Japanese Zero type. This appeared to be strange because the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) in China and Burma had shot down 300 Japanese planes while losing 16. And the Tigers flew the oldest of the American P40 type, known in the British service as the Tomahawks. On the northern Australian front, later P40's are in service— the Kittyhawks — and the 73 to 17 ratio in favour of the Darwin fighter force is now explained by "a new technique." No One-plane Answer. In point of fact there is no one-plane answer to the question Which is the best aircraft? Which is the best car? The one that puts up records on Ninety Mile Beach? The one that brings the family in from the farm on Friday? Or the one that takes milk to the factory? The aeroplane answer is just as easy. There is a topical example. Mr. Churchill went on his epic journeys in an American Liberator bomber. This is not to say that the Liberator is a better type .than the giant British bombers. It is not. As load-carriers the British Lancasters carry twice the bomb load of the giant Liberator.

But the object in carrymg Mr. Churchill to Russia was not to carry load, but to carry Mr. Churchill safely pver long distances. The well-protected Liberator with a range of more than 3000 miles and a top speed of over 300 miles an hour was an ideal plane for the job, hence its choice ahead of the British aircraft which is built for a specific job, namely, to carry heavy bombs to Germany at night. "Homesick Angel." The United Nations are well ahead of the Axis in the planes that count most. The British Spitfire is still the best battle-proved fighter in the air — fast, heavily armed and armoured. The Hurricane is in the same category. American fighter design lagged behind British and German, especially in altitude performance and armament. But the gap is closing. Lockheed's twinengined P38 (known as the Lightning) has plenty of altitude performance, dazzling speed, and good gunpower. It is in production and on its way to the battlefronts now.

Also in production is the best United States single-engined fighter yet, Republic's P47, or Thunderbolt, to which General H. H. Arnold (chief of the U.S. Aii Corps) made reference a few days ago. This is a 2000 h.p. engined aircraft which is described as being heavily armed and armoured but which, nevertheless, is nimble and "climbs like a homesick angel." N Zero De-merits. The burden of U.S. fighter work in the Pacific area has so far fallen on the Curtiss Hawk series of P40's. Based oo correspondents' reports, many persons have thought these were out-climbed and out-manoeuvred by the Japanese Zeros. But on this basis many a light plane would be better which could manoeuvre a fighter — until its petrol ran out. The Americans in China showed that the lightly built Zero disintegrates rapidly under a stream of bullets. Furthermore, the P40's are faster, they outdive the Zero and can take more punishment. Much of the same story has been told of the Airacobra. From Australia came a story of Zeros leaving Airacobras at the post by climbing out of trouble. The Airacobras (like the Tomahawks) are certainly slower in climb than Zeros at high altitudes. But U.S. fliers using them on a low-altitude mission, knocked down eight Zeros in their first combat and came home with all their Airacobras. U.S. Ace-card. In the medium bomber field the United Nations lead the Axis and in big fellows the Stirlings, Halifaxes, Lancasters are the British answer to Goering's boast that no bombs would drop on the Reich. The American Fortresses and Liberators have come' through some teething pains, principally connected with •the question of defensive armament. The faults are remedied and, as has been frequently seen, American bomber crews no longer worry about pursuit by Zero fighters but instead knock them down with surprising frequency. In naval aviation there is evidence that the United States leads the world with the Grumman Wildcat the best carrier craft in the world with a rival in the Vought-Sikorsky Corsair. Catalinas have piled up an unrivalled record for long-range scouting. The new Grumman torpedo plane, the Avenger, has proved itself in recent Pacific actions. It is no wishful thinking to say that now that America is in her stride she can keep ahead of anything the Axis combination can put forward. There is a sound reason for saying this. It is that the United States has an answer that no other nation is rich enough to make. A new plane design no longer stops production lines. The United States builds a new line and drops the old model only when the new one rolls of the lines. Then the old line is stopped, torn down, and retooled for a third type. .The United States now has fluidity in design without accompanying drops in production curves.