AIR RIVALRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 150, 26 June 1943, Page 5

AIR RIVALRY

THE EASTERN FRONT

HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 11.20 a.m. LONDON, June 25. While the world still awaits an eruption on the Eastern Front, the Red Air Force is systematically , raiding the Luftwaffe's first line and second line aerodromes, where the Germans have great concentrations of planes. These attacks, says Reuters Moscow correspondent, have been maintained practically daily since June 9, and the damage to German aircraft'is considerable. Its exact extent is unknown, but Lieutenant-Colonel Denisov, a Russian air expert, points out, first, that the Germans in the Kuban during May failed to attain air supei^iority and. lost three-quarters of their operating fighter squadrons, and, secondly, that the Germans are haying exceptionally heavy losses in massed raids. Colonel Denisov attributes the Germans'heavy losses to the fact that the Red Air Force is stronger and that the quality of the Russian fighters has im--1 proved. He adds that the Focke-Wulf 190 has been countered by large numbers of Yak 7's and Lavochkin s's, new Russian fighters, which are now being mass-produced. "With the Spitfires and ! Airacobras, they are unquestionably I superior to the German fighters," he said. Colonel Denisov revealed that the I.L. 2 attack plane has been perfected and that the Tupolev 2 has been added to the Russian bomber force. ! "The Germans, on the other hand," he ! said, "are still flying their old machines. Their attempts to modify the Junkers 87 by fitting two cannons and using it for attack have not produced a significant improvement, but the smashing up of many aerodromes has compelled the Germans to avoid concentrating large numbers of planes in any single district, and they now form their raiding forces in the air during the flight to the target. Also, our strong fighter force simply does not allow the Germans to appear in small groups. Thus the massing of air forces which the Germans are employing must be regarded as arising [ from necessity rather than choice."