NAZI AIR FORCE

Evening Star, Issue 23237, 10 April 1939, Page 14

NAZI AIR FORCE

PLANES BUILT OF SUBSTITUTE MATERIAL What is the truth a bout. Hitler’s air force? For long it has been regarded as the most powerful weapon of offence owned by any nation of the world. . This belief is only .partly supported by the latest available ■ facts; It still loutmnhbere Britain’® K/.A.JV by at least three planes to one, but produo. tion has been pushed on so . rapidly that, plane for plane', the German force is much inferior, writes Victor Burnett in the, ‘ Sunday Express.’ ■ ' The Germans : have staked all on quantity. They' have built, cheaply with “ substitute ” materials. Goering, Germany’s Air Minister, believes that, in the event of war, planes on both sides would be shot down in' such numbers that expensive design and equipment would simply be wasted. ' That the only real factor is to have vast quantities of planes available. But there is another. view, held by Air Force authorities here, and. by most of the world’s aviation experts. This is that poor-quality planes and lack of first-class equipment will damage the striking power of an air force. That, with modern speeds of 300 m.p.h. and more, not only proper instruments, but the best, possible gun turrets and sights are vitally necessary. Most important of all, there is the moral effect on the ipilpt. The German fliere know that their accident rate' is far higher than that of the R.A.F., and this lack of confidence saps efficiency more than anything else. R.A.F. machines are fitted with every type of flying. instrument. _ New accurate gun and bomb-sighting devices have been developed for them. The guns themselves are in turrets, power-driven, so that 'fire can be brought to bear on another machine even if a 300 m.p.h. wind stream is beating down on the gun. On the German planes only barely, necessary instruments are fitted. Gunners have no power-driven turr rets to aid them. They are out in the. open’, or enclosed in simply-built, handoperated turrets. They would find great, difficulty in operating their guns at speeds over 200 m.p.h. r The sighting devices , for the bombs are cruder—but quick and cheap to fit.. Lack of all this equipment means, of Course, that a complete wanplanq’can be produced in a very much . shorter period. Continuous trouble is.’ being experienced with the German engines. Failures occur often. Every day, day in, day out, three German air force planes crash. This means 1,095 crashes a year.