RAIDS OVER BRITAIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1940, Page 10

RAIDS OVER BRITAIN

■ ICE MAY PROVE DETERRENT ! Late autumn and winter fog will not stop Goering’s indiscriminate bombing of London, but probably ice will reduce the scale of the raids (says l “The Evening Standard,” London. 1 Ice-formation on controls and in carburettors will interfere seriously with the German raiders. If they fly low to take advantage of clouds or fog they are almost as likely to encounter icing conditions during the winter as aircraft which try to evade the anti-aircraft defences by flying at great heights. Various de-icing equipment has been tried in modern warplanes, but of none can it be said that it is cer- ] tain in all circumstances to prevent freezing. The most vital effect of “icing up”

of aircraft is that heavily loaded bombers lost height rapidly because their engine-power is much reduced — if not cut out altogether. If the bombers are using a screen of clouds for cover, it follows that they may easily be caught in searchlights as they : are forced down below . the cloud.. • ' | - Finally, it need not. be freezing on.; the ground’for icing conditions to ex- t i

Ist a thousand or two feet high. i The short duration of the flight from the French coast has no bearing on the icing-up question. The conditions can affect an aircraft within a few minutes of the take-off.