RIVAL PLANES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1940, Page 8

RIVAL PLANES

GERMAN & BRITISH TYPES COMPARED ENGLISH MACHINES’ SUPERIOR ARMAMENT. DETAILS OF MILITARY CRAFT. The technical details of those classes of military aircraft' that are repeatedly mentioned over the air in the reports on the progress of the war should prove of great interest and the following descriptions of some of the better known craft have been taken from the “Overseas Engineer.” Already reconnaissance aircraft of the Coastal Command have earned a great fighting reputation. Sunderland, Hudson and Anson are names in the best tradition of British sea fighters of the past. Named after Admiral Anson, the famous navigator of the 18th century, the Anson is a low-wing, general reconnaissance monoplane, specially produced for coastal reconnaissance work. As it was designed mainly for reconnaissance and training work the Anson is of unusually roomy construction. A feature is the good visibility, secured through specially large front and side windows.

A crew of three is usually carried — pilot, navigator/bomb-aimer, and raaio-operator/air-gunner. They are so placed that a free passage is left down one side of the fuselage for intercommunication and movement from one part of the “ship” to another. Thus, when not bomb-aiming, the navigator is seated at a chart table midway between the pilot and the gun turret. But his bombing post in action is in the extreme nose of the aircraft where he lies prone watching his target through a sliding window in the nose. Two Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah IX engines with a total power output of about 650 h.p. give the Anson a top speed of just under 190 m.p.h. It cruises at about 160 m.p.h. and the maximum range is over 800 miles. The overall length is 42 feet and the wing span 56J feet. The wing area is 410 sq. feet —less than one-third that of its big brother of the Coastal Command, the Sunderland flying-boat. The Anson is comparatively lightly armed. There is one forward firing machine-gun for the pilot, and another, mounted in a rotating gun-turret aft of the wing, is handled by the radio-operator. A number of bombs can also be carried, and there is storage for the special gear required for air operations over the sea, such as collapsible dinghy, sea markers and flame floats.

REASONS /FOR SUPERIORITY. Although not designed for fighting, Ansons have often been involved in fights, with the enemy and come out of them with glory. The most remarkable instance was when three Ansons engaged nine Messerschmitt fighters flying low over the channel. Two German machines were destroyed and one severely damaged whilst the Ansons’ casualties were.two members of their crews wounded. Experience in fullscale air war has justified the confidence of the Royal Air Force in the technical superiority of British bomber and fighter aircraft. This superiority is due to the way in which they are armed. as well as the way in which the aircraft are designed and flown.

The following is a comparison of the armament of famous British types in relation to similar Nazi types. It will be observed that in current British fighters the emphasis is on multiple rifle-calibre machine guns and that Britain’s bombers, too, have heavy defensive armament. Variations of the standard armament, including the use of cannon, have been employed on some types, both British and German. “Cannon,” incidentally, is a general term for large bore, shell-firing mach-ine-guns. BRITISH FIGHTERS. Hawker Hurricane — 8 machine guns. Vickers Spitfire—--8 machine guns. Boulton-Paul Defiant — Multiple guns in turret. Bristol Blenheim— Nest of guns under fuselage 1 gun in rear turret. GERMAN FIGHTERS. Heinkel 112— 2 machine guns 2 cannons in wings. Messerschmitt 109 — 4 machine guns 1 cannon. Messerschmitt 110— 4 forward guns 2 rear guns 2 cannons. I BRITISH BOMBERS. Handley-Page Hampden—--2 forward guns 4 rear guns Armstrong-Whitworth-Whitley—--1 forward gun 4 rear guns. Vickers Wellington—--1 forward gun 4 rear guns. , GERMAN BOMBERS. Dornier 17— 2 fixed guns < 2 moveable guns. Heinkell 111— 3 moveable guns. Junkers 88— 3 gun positions.

Despite the formidable appearance of the Messerschmitt 110 armament the smaller British Hurricane and Spitfire fighters have shown themselves a match for these machines, even in superior numbers. And British bombers, although their job is not to invite combat, have nevertheless been able, on several occasions, to give as good as they received in fights with Messerschmitts. Already several types of aircraft from the United States have become familial’ in England. Probable the best-known are the Lockheed Hudson reconnaissance aircraft adopted early in the war by the Royal Air Force Coastal Command, and the Curtiss Hawk 75A fighters of the French Armee de I’Air. Both are straightforward designs whose features are strength and power of manoeuvre rather than high speed. OTHER AMERICAN TYPES. There are a number of other types of American aircraft not yet so well known, some of which are rather less conventional in appearance and design, and which may be heard of in the near future. Among the two-motor fighters is a single-seater 400 m.p.h.plus machine with superfine streamlining, the Lockheed p-38 A characteristic feature is the way in which the two engine-nacelles are extended to form the tail units, and central fuselage dispensed with. The motors are 1250 h.p. Allisons, an in-line type of liquid-cool-ed engine reminiscent of the RollsRoyce Merlin.-Allison is a relatively new name in the United States’ en-

gines, and the type is now fitted to a number of America’s newest fighters. Another interesting American is the Bell Miracobra —a single-seat fighter for which a speed of 400 m.p.h. is also claimed. In silhouette not unlike the British Spitfire, it is unique among contemporary aircraft in mounting the engine amidships, behind the pilot and driving the airscrew by a long extension shaft. Another Bell product is the two-motor, multi-seat Airacuda, in which the propellers are fitted behind the wings. Forward extensions of the engine nacelles are used to house gunners.

A more conventional type of singleseat fighter- from which a high performance may be expected is the Curtiss P. 40. This sturdily built fighter, designed for the United States Army, is also powered with a single 1250 h.p. Allison motor. The latest version is known as the P.4OD. This wing span. 37 feet 4in., is just a little more than that of the Spitfire. Another interesting design is the little, high-powered Vultec Vanguard. Although only a single-seater with a wing-span of 36 feet, it houses a 1600 h.p. Pratt and Whitney motor under its cowling. For fleet work the Americans have a useful four-gun fighter in the Brewster F2A-1. This has an air-cooled Wright Cyclone motor of 800 h.p. Its short chubby fuselage and stiff wings give it a distinctive appearance, rather like a flying barrel. Not much information has been issued about the armament of these new fighters. In general the United States aircraft are not as heavily armed as their British counterparts, but it may be remembered that the fire power of the American machines delivered to France before her collapse had been increased to meet modern war requirements.

FAST, USEFUL BOMBERS. America’s new-type bombers include a number of fast, medium-sized, twomotor types with a useful range. Some are fitted with diving brakes and other devices for close attack duty and are known at attack-bombers. The Douglas B-23 is claimed to have a top speed of 375 m.p.h. which is some 75 m.p.h. faster than the British Blenheim, a somewhat comparable type. Among the first American-built craft to go into action with the Roydl Air Force was a military version, of the famous Lockheed 14. Known as the “Hudson,” it is an all-metal mid-wing monoplane with two Wright Cyclone radial motors, giving a total power output of about 2000 h.p. The fuselage is the cabin type with accommodation for a crew of four, and there is a gun turret aft in addition to the forward guns. Fast and manoeuvreable, the Hudson has earned a great reputation. The Fiat, Macchi, Breda. SavioMarchetti, Caproni and Cant are some cf the Italian aircraft types. Foremost among their fighters can be reckoned the Fiat G. 50 and Macchi C. 200. Both are modern single-seat monoplane types, with a single radial engine. They each carry two heavy machine-guns firing forward. Their wing-span of about 35 feet is two feet less than that of the smallest British fighter, the eight-gun Spitfire, whilst their speed—3os m.p.h. for the Fiat and 313 m.p.h. for the Macchi—is definitely low as modern fighters go. They are reported to be very manoeuvreable and sturdily built.