HIGH FLYING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 21, 25 January 1940, Page 11

HIGH FLYING

AIRMEN'S DANGERS

EXTREME COLD & RAREFIED AIR

SPECIAL PROBLEMS

(British Official Wireless.) (Received January 25, 11 a.m.) * RUGBY, January 24. Qn recent night flights over Germany temperatures as low as 52 degrees of frost have been encountered by R.A.F. bomber aircraft, and % ice has formed in layers on the cockpit floor inside the aircraft. This extreme cold and rarefied air at altitudes up to five miles above the earth which are attained by the bombers in the course of reconnaissance flights over the heart of Germany are the airmen's two greatest1 dangers.

For protection against such intense cold the airmen rely almost ..solely upon warm clothing. Electricallyheated flying clothing is no ' longer generally employed in the R.A.F., for in the event of the failure of the electrical supply at high altitudes the entire crew would immediately be deprived of their sole protection against cold. As the height increases the air pressure becomes less and the atmosphere progressively more rarefied. To guard against the risk of premature collapse it is the. usual practice for oxygen inhalation to begin at 10,000 feet, the rate of supply being steadily increased as the aircraft gains height. Each member of the crew wears an oxygen breathing mask covering his nose and mouth, and from the mask is suspended a length of flexible tubing, which is plugged into an oxygen point nearby. USE OF THE PRESSURE- SUIT. At about 35,000 feet, however, the low pressure of the atmosphere makes breathing even with the" aid of the I oxygen mask impossible, and it becomes necessary to encase" the airmen in an airtight pressure suit resembling* a diver's outfit, inside of which a predetermined pressure sufficient to permit of the inhalation,, of oxygen can be maintained. Apart from physiological conditions, high altitude flying also introduces special problems relating to the air-' •craft itself. At heights approaching the aircraft "ceiling" the attenuated atmosphere provides so little lift for the aeroplane's wing that, combining with the lower power of the engines, the rate of flying may fall to a fraction of the aircraft's ground level ability. From aircraft travelling at 200 miles an hour at a height of 20,000 feet a bomb has to be released two miles and a half in advance of its target. Moreover, to ensure any degree of accuracy in bombing, the aimer must begin to sight his target some three miles from the point at which he will release the bomb—a .total of five miles and a half from, the target itself. COMBAT AT 34,000 FEET. An account of a recent high altitude aerial combat is contained in the Air Ministry's weekly news letter published today. A British fighter pilot was ordered to pursue a Dornier bomber- which was sighted over a certain area at a height of 18,000 feet. "After flying west," his log readf, "I sighted three anti-aircraft shell bursts. I then sighted a trail of frozen exhaust gas at a .considerably greater altitude and climbed aftertit." The British pilot engaged the Dornier at 24,000 feet. He came up under the enemy's tail and opened fire in short bursts at 250 yards range. White smoke burst from the Dornier's starboard engine. The pilot of the fighter then climbed to 500 feet above the enemy. "I dived to attack at a right angle," reads his graphic narrative, "gave one. good burst, and broke away to the right and above. I saw two men leave the aircraft, and' white and black smoke appeared from the port engine. As the aircraft was obviously finished, I did not' attack again, but followed it down, and saw it make a forced landing in a field with -its undercarriage retracted."