NAZI AIR TACTICS

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1940, Page 10

NAZI AIR TACTICS

COMBINATION OF TYPES Hitler’s air tactics are no longei - a secret, and, although their formidability is by no means under-estimat-ed, it is gratifying to learn that, man for man, the Royal Air Force con-i tinues to show marked superiority — and that the Nazis know it, wrote the London correspondent of the “Johannesburg Star” recently. It is now learned that Hitler used out-of-date bombers in his “blitzkrieg” tactics against the Allies. These machines—Junkers Ju 86’s and Dornier Do. 17’s particularly—have been working in conjunction with faster types. The “Evening Standard” describes how air formations work in conjunction with tanks. Attacks start early at dawn, preferably, in very clear weather. Dive bombers and reconnaissance planes “ring up the curtain” by approaching objectives at a great height in the dim light. They radio back to headquarters the dispositions of the ground formations. Then several of them “peel off” — bank and dive—when Allied anti-air-craft fire opens. To gunners on the ground it might appear that several Germas have been hit, but the “hit” Junkers continue to dive, reaching 350 miles an hour. While Allied gunners are still firing at machines remaining aloft, the dive bombers drop salvoes with fair accuracy. This trick was well exploited in Poland.

These dive bombers dovetail into another form of attack. From the rising sun, whose first rays are blinding to anti-aircraft gunners, wave after wave of “air artillery” approach in a shallow dive giving extra speed. At 25,000 feet and 16,000 feet squadrons of Messerschmitt 109’s and 110’s and Heinkel fighter?— the higher squadrons watching for Allied fighters and the lower stratum ready to resist counter-bombing—fly at. half throttle to ‘avoid overrunning the “air artillery” they are protecting. Although the Allied gunners get busy, they and the infantry and mechanised battalions are immediately subjected to avalanche after avalanche of mediumweight bombs. As a contrast to these high-speed tactics, the Nazis are also employing machines with extremely Tow speeds. Their use possibly explains how the Germans are able to “drop” heavilyequipped troops, even light tanks fitted with special springs, without injury.

The pilot of a Blenheim bomber has experienced one of these slow flyers Which “hovered” so successfully that he overshot it. The Blenheim was returning from Germany when the pilot sighted an unfamiliar aircraft flying low along a deep valley. Diving at 300 miles an hour, the Blenheim attacked, opening fire at 35 yards. “To my amazement,” the pilot reported, “the enemy appeared to stand still in the air, forcing me to overshoot.” .

The pilot pulled out of the dive and sought to renew, his attack, but the enemy was now flying so low that the steepness of the valley prevented him. The mystery of this “hovering” aircraft was later solved when the machine was identified as a Fieseler “Storch”—a German trainer type of aircraft with extensively-slotted wings endowing it with remarkable lowflying qualities. Its proper name is Fieseler Fl 156, and it was evolved by Gerhard Fieseler, the. aerobatic pilot, for his aerial displays.. 1 The Fieseler has a top speed of about 110 miles an hour and a minimum of only 31. miles an hour, which is “hovering” compared with normal modern speeds.