STRIKING AT GERMANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1944, Page 5

STRIKING AT GERMANS

GREATEST AIR FORCE RUGBY, May 30. Commanding the greatest air force ever known, Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory has the distinction not only of having: planned the air onslaught which is disrupting the enemy's communications in northwestern Europe, hut also of having risen to his present position among the Allied leaders from the rank of private in the Army. Sir Trafford enlisted as a private during the last war, soon rose to commissioned rank, and won the D.S.O. Unified under his command are the vast forces of the British, American, Dominion, and Allied air contingents which during the last 10 days have flown more than 25,000 sorties against the network of communications vital to the supply of the German armies in Europe. Each day Sir Trafford with his American deputy studies the position in Europe and decides how the bottlenecks of German transport shall be attacked. Reports from reconnaissance pilots reveal that the damage already done is helping to create bottle-necks in other areas. Junctions and marshalling points have been so devastated in recent weeks that other outlets have been overtaxed and railway systems disorganised to the extent that local lines have been forced to carry traffic which should be handled by main lines. The same applies to road transport and in some instances third-class highways are being used because of the destruction of arterial routes. The damage to routes in France has been so severe that the main routes between important centres are completely out of action in some cases. This has led to congestion on secondary highways, thus providing better targets for strafing attacks. It is probably the railway system that has suffered most, and shortage of rolling-stock caused by raids on marshalling yards is known to be desperate. The greatest fleet of fighter-bombers ever assembled—a force which can send out hundreds of bomb-carrying Thunderbolts, Lightnings, and Mustangs in a day for months on end— forms an important part of the vast force under Sir Traftord's command. This is the Ninth Fighter Command, the aerial shock troops of the mobile invasion-geared Ninth Air Force, which has been swarming out from Britain over western Europe,' striking at every conceivable kind of target. THUNDERBOLT CAME FIKST. The first fighter-bomber to fly in this theatre was the Thunderbolt, the heaviest fighter in the world, weighing about one-third as much as a Flying Fortress. Carrying two 5001b bombs under its wings, it can dive-bomb, glide-bomb, strafe-bomb (hedge-hop with delayed action bombs), or skipbomb. It is a good fighter and can take almost as much punishment as the Fortress. The Mustang, the fastest warplane in the world, with a speed of 425 miles an hour, has made a name for itself as an escort fighter because of its ability to fly to Poland and return. The Lightning, called the "Forked Devil" by the Germans, is the newest machine in the fighter-bomber fleet, and it has fought with success in every theatre of war. Its range is ~d great that it can be ferried non-stop from America to Britain. Both Mustangs and Lightnings concentrate on glidebombing with excellent results. These machines have not Inished their day's work when they have dropped their bombs. They scour the skies in search of enemy fighters. They strafe every available enemy target they can get in their gunsights. Those mentioned are not the only bomb-carrying fighters, as every fighter in the Ninth Air Force can now carry bombs when required to \