WEATHER FACTOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 5, 7 January 1942, Page 4

WEATHER FACTOR

BOMBING OF GERMANY

RECENT LULL EXPLAINED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—CopyrlEht.)

LONDON, January 5,

Particularly on bright, clear nights, the question is often heard, "Why, if the Royal Air Force is now so powerful, aren't we bombing Germany on a heavier scale?" The aeronautical correspondent of "The Times" has replied that the chief obstacle has been ground mist, fog, icing conditions, and thick cloud. Rarely, since records were first kept, has the night weather been so unfavourable for operations as in the past two or three months.

When conditions are favourable over Britain it does not follow that they are similarly good over Germany. Sometimes the weather is favourable for taking off, but meteorological observations may have shown that the early morning will bring a ground mist.

There are occasions when the experts forecast clear weather only till the early morning, whereupon the bombers are switched to a short-range target, enabling them to return home before the. weather becdmes worse.

The Bomber Command must be sure of the weather for seven or eight hours both over the target and over British bases.

The suggestion that improved German defences have restricted Royal Air Force activities is incorrect. Members of the Royal Air Force report no surprising development in the enemy's ground and air defences. As soon as the weather improves the Bomber Command will joyfully prove that only the weather has prevented them hitting Germany harder than ever.