COSTLY BUSINESS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20995, 23 December 1939, Page 10

COSTLY BUSINESS

LARGE-SCALE AIR RAIDS NAZI DISCOVERY HIGH COMMAND WORRIED t (Times Air Mail Service.) I LONDON, Nov. 30. c

Various reasons have been suggested for the German reluctance to begin air raids on a large scale. One important factor remains to be mentioned. Bombing Britain is a most expensive pastime, writes Captain H. S. Broad, the famous test pilot, in the Daily Mail. It is impossible to give an accurate average figure per raid, for the average varies enormously from raid to raid. Here, however, are some typical figures for the sort of raid we have so far experienced. And whenI say that some of these small “ feeler ” raids have cost the Nazi exchequer well over £IOO,OOO, I am deliberately understating the case. £SO An Hour We reckon that a modern twinengined bomber costs about £SO per ; flying hour to maintain. From the bombers’ bases in North West Gerj many to our East Coast towns is ! roughly 500 miles. They cruise at J 250 m.p.h., but by the time they have ! been chased from pillar to post by I our interceptors, deviated from their ! course to avoid some of our defences and made « brave (although gene- , rally unsuccessful) attempt to reach • their objective, they have used up j j another hour or so. ! This brings the cost per aircraft j to £250, or £3OOO for a raid by a ; dozen machines, which is about as • , much as Goering has so far allowed i i himself. All this money is not spent [ ! on fuel alone. That would work out i at perhaps £IOO an hour for twelve [ ; bombers. But there are expensive hangars i to be erected and maintained. Aero- ; drome surfaces must be laid down [ j and kept in first-rate condition for ! all weathers. Large and highly- . j trained ground staffs must be kept : I and paid—as must the crews them- | selves. : j Bombs and ammunition are expensive, especially in Germany, where 5 I some of the raw materials are hard | to come by. Even so, Hitler would j not grudge £3OOO a raid. It is Gerj man casualties which swell the bill | to many times that sum. - I A bomber of the latest type—and l ; it is waste of time to use anything 000. One-third Fail to Return 1 | Now, official figures show that in ’ ly reconnaissance raids; the Germans

bombing raids (as distinct from purehave been losing at least a quarter of the machines taking part. The Air Ministry reports, never unduly optimistic, usually mention one or two additional enemy bombers which were hit and seen to be in difficulties. Then come reports from abroad of a German bomber crashing in Denmark or off the coast of Holland. It seems fair to assume that on an average not more than two-thirds of a raiding force reaches its base again. That means a loss of four machines out of 12, and four bombers at £30.000 apiece comes to £120,000. Add to this the cost of training new pilots and crews to take the place of the men killed or interned in Britain “ for the duration.” We reckon that it ‘costs £ISOO to train a Service pilot. I don’t see how the Germans, who, like us, demand a high standard, can do it for much i less. The training of the other two j or three members of the crew may j average £IOOO each. All this is enough to worry the I German High Command. We have I set them another problem even more : pressing. The present superiority of i •our fighters over their bombers j means that they must develop new ! bomber types with the utmost haste, i Such development is an immensely j troublesome and complex business, i If I had to assess its cost, I should l mention a sum, in the case of a new multi-engined bomber, of not less than £150.000. That amount might prove ridiculously inadequate. I am assuming that the design is a "lucky” one. without any unusual, obstinate problems such as we sometimes meet.

Poured Out Like Water Here are a few of the heads under which money is poured out like water when an entirely new design is being brought out against time: drawing office work; new jigs and machine tools; test flying; wind-tunnel experiments; the development of an improved engine; experiments with armament and possibly with instruments. After the designer and his staff have decided just how they hope to achieve that extra performance and better defence against attack, the routine business of the drawing office can scarcely absorb less than £IO,OOO. Again, if the Nazis get away with as little as £IO,OOO for engine de-

velopment, they will count themselves lucky. Since ultra-rapid development is vital to them, they will | have to spend more money than ; usual. Any kind of economy will be i impossible. ! Finally, they know only too well i that not every design is a “ winner.” j They will have two or three firms at i least working independently at the j same time. j And at the best (from their viewj point) they know that in a year or j two. when our fighters have become still better, whatever they build now i will be obsolete once more.