U.S.A. -BUILT PLANES

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 October 1942, Page 5

U.S.A. -BUILT PLANES

A CANDID REPORT FAULTS AND VIRTUES (Recd. 10.20 a.m.) WASHINGTON, October 19. Warning that in the coming months, battles may oe lost and crushing defeats suffered, the Office of War Information, in a 10,000 words report to the public, designed to dispel the fog and confusion conceim g American planes, said that the tiut lies betwen the two extremes ol adverse and favourable criticisms. The report specifically said that the Curtis P4O, Bell P3O, A-rerotaa P5l, and Mustang standard fighters have many good points, but are definitely inferior to foreign types.in high altitude combat. Improved types are in production, btu are not yei battle-tested. The chief fault of the American fighters is the Widy, 11 complete development ot the Allison liquid-cooled motor. For daylight precision bombing, the Flying Fortress B .17’s, and Liberator B 24’s are unsurpassed Out medium bombers, Mitchell B -5 Martin B 26’s, have no competitois. The latest Navy fighter dive-bomber and torpedo types already in action are the best carrier planes m the world. Other types of patrol, reconnaissance, cargo, transport,, and firespotters are satisfactory in quality within their own fields. The report stressed that only results in battle would provide valid standards of criticism. No lull appraisal is possible until more are won The alternate superiority of the United States and Britain in various types gave the United Nations, as a team, a better choice 01. weapons than the enemy. TT . The report declared that the United Slates aircraft industry and services were steadily developing specialised aircraft of high, and in some cases sensational, promise of battle performance. The report cautioned that recent air victories, especially in the South-western Pacific, may have resulted primarily from specialised tactical situations, which will not always b'- so favourable. It warned of possible coming defeats, and said: When we meet reversals and the pull to victory seems to grow long, and hard, Americans will do well if they indulge to the Lull their genius lor critical self-analysis. While asserting that America lagged in developing high altitude fighter planes, the report said they were valuable weapons in Russia and North Africa, where they were needed at relatively low altitudes. . The report pointed out that m China, where the American volunteer group flew P4o’s, with the aid of excellent Chinese air raid warning system, they destroyeod 218 Japanese planes with the loss of 84 American, but in the February raid on Darwin, eight out ol ten P4o’s were shot down by the, Japanese, mostly because of lack of warning. Likewise in the Philippines, army craft were hampered because the air-raid warning system was disrupted by Fifth Columnists, before it had once functioned. Stressing the importance ol an adequate warning system to the successful operation of combat planes, the report said: As the battle of the Philippines wore southward, there was often none at all. Furthermore, American fighter pilots lacked technical equipment and detectors to prepare lor the enemy’s approach. Often the first notice came when the enemy planes were sighted. If our fighters were already in the air they had a fair chance of getting up and battling with the enemy. More often they had to wait lor the enemy to come down to them, and then slugging it out. The air-raid warning system employed in China by Chennault’s Flying Tigers was one of the finest in the world. The report added it must be repeated that all the credit must not go to the pilots of the planes. A great part was due to the warning system. Falling back continuously on inadequate fields and inadequate facilities all through, the Japanese drive to the South-west Pacific, the P4o’s performance was decidedly less than standard. CAUSES OF FAILURE' In the vital European theatre, the appraisal of P 39 and P 49 compels the conclusion they are not right for operation under to-day's high altitude tactics.

In England, two newer fighter types, twin-engined Lockheed P3B Lightning and single-engined Republic P 47 Thunderbolt, are in production, and show great promise as high altitude pursuit planes, yet the public should be warned that neither plane is the complete answer to the fighter problem, and probably no plane ever will be. Discussing supremacy within their own fields of the Flying Fortress and Liberator bombers, the report disputes claims of superiority sometimes made for the Lancaster bomber, which carries a heavier bomb-load, because it was designed to fly lower and carry less gasoline. American planes stripped for the same job could easily increase the bomb-load. While American'air-cooled engines are generally regarded as the world’s peers, the report said that the only liquil-cooled engine of American design now in mass production and general military use is the Allison. Its development, starting late, was carried out under great difficulties, ■and it has not yet caught up with the opposite numbers, Britain’s Rolls Royce and Germany’s Daimler Benz. In reaching for the ideal air force, the United States is hampered by the impossibility- of anticipating the specific demands of war, and has also Ibeen hamstrung by disagreement in its own fighting services as to weight and power to be wielded by _ air power. Despite this, the United States went tc. war with a well integrated air force, not all distributed with maximum effect. Thp prime specification for United States aeroplanes was defence of our shores. This more than any other factor explains our pre-occupation with long-range bombers. This practically explains the failure to develop a good interceptor capable of climbing rapidly at short notice. Our entry into the war without such valuable equipment is explicable only by the failure to give consideration to the possibility of full American participation in aerial warfare overseas. Subsidiary explanations are shortage of development funds in peace-time years, and the prevalent public faith that the United States could avoid involvement in a foreign war. In the vast revision of ideas of design since the war began in Europe, the United States owes a vast debt to the Allies, particularly to the British, and the lessons they brought to America from the battlefields.

GERMANY’S NEW STRENGTH

(Recd. 1 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 19.

Germany will resume concentrated bombings of airbases in England, redouble her attacks on American shipping, and directly bombard American industrial centres, predicts Colonel Hugh Knerr, retired Chief of the United States Army Air Corps, in an article in the Mercury Magazine. “The Germans at present have planes capable of raiding America at any times they choose,. and have been testing bombers with forty thousand feet altitude, equipped with automa-

tic pilots and improved bombsights. I think the Germans will come from Norway, via the Arctic, and strike the industrial region between Sault St. Marie and Niagara, perhaps as far south as Pittsburg. The present German air strength is barely holding its own, because they froze models early in the war, but soon a new series of Messerschmitts and Fockewulfs will give her the finest fighting team in the world. To oppose it, we have a Spitfire which equals the Messerschmitt in the air-cooled class, and the Republic P 47 which it remains to be seen if it is as good as the Fockewulf. I do not think we will knock out the German air force before the Spring, but it is possible the United Nations will have mastery of the air over Europe before the Spring. A threat to this is our own navy, which is attempting to divide the Flying Fortress production, and divert hundreds of these planes to the Pacific naval bases, under battleship admirals, who have no business with landbased bombers, because they do hot know how to use them.” SCHNEIDER WORKS ,TRIBUTE TO RAIDERS RUGBY, October 19. The destruction of the Schneider Creusot Works is greeted in the British Press as a very remarkable operation, which promises yet greater developments. Every detail, says the “Telegraph.” encourages the hope that contrary to the theory so far generally accepted, as the result of experience in the Battle of Britain, it may be possible to devise successful technique for heavy daylight attacks on targets in Germany, thus, weather permitting, to keep up continuous bombing of the enemy day and night. “The Telegraph” also notes the contrast in losses with the Augsburg raid, while the “Express” says: “Its, eight ton bomb load made the Lancaster the backbone of big night raids, and its speed and firepower make it as terrible a menace in daylight as in the dark.”

The “News Chronicle” points out that raids on Lille and Le Creusot were partly inspired by the same tactical idea. —dislocation of Germany’s internal communications. “Lille works and Schneider factories both manufacture locomotives, though the Schneider works also produce heavy armaments on a large scale. There is a very new concern which turns out locomotives in big numbers. The damage done in these two raids will have serious effects throughout the Reich. That is why the Allies are putting all they know into smashing communications. Bombing engineering. works, railway centres, marshalling yards, and shooting up locomotives in Northern France, are all aspects of a single co-ordinated plan. It is already yielding good dividends. When Germany is called on to fight on two or more fronts, its full value will for the first time be clearly revealed.”

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

RUGBY, October 19

Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfred Freemen has been appointed Chief Executive at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Under the Minister, he will co-ordinate and direct the production, research, and development sides of the Department. He retired from the R.A.F. and Air Council, and the King promoted him G.C.B. Air Vice-Marshal C. E. H. Medhurst is appointed to act temporarily as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, and an adidtional member of the Air Council. RAIDS ON ENGLAND A FEW CASUALTIES (Received 11 a.m.) LONDON, October 19. Cloud-hopping raiders were active all day over the coastal areas of England. They bombed and mach-ine-gunned about a score of districts, but little damage and few casualties have been reported.

London, for the first time since January, 1941. had three daylight alerts due to single raiders over the outskirts of the city, and at least two raiders were brought down. Six of the towns attacked were in East Anglia. One town was attacked three times. The ground defences brought down a Junker’s 88 m flames over an East Anglian town. The Junkers blew up, killing the crew. „ , Bombers on a Thames Estuary town hit offices and shops resulting in a number of casualties, some fatal. Rescuers are still digging for those trapped. One Dornier flew so low over one East Anglian town that the residents saw the bombdoors open. The Dornier also machine-gunned the town. Another raider machine-gunned a train entering a station, and damaged several coaches. No one was injured. Another raider machine-gun-ned a train in an inland village. Two persons were seriously injured. enemy loss RUGBY, October 19 Thd Admiralty states that a JU 88 which attempted to cross the eastcoast of England this morning was shot down by A.A. gunfire from H.M. trawler Lovania, and A.A. guns a. a naval base. It crashed inland latex, and exploded.

PLANE CRASH ON HOUSE

LONDON, October 18. Fourteen persons were killed when a Royal Air Force aeroplane crashed to-day. Those killed included the crew of the aeroplane and a mother and her baby. The mother and child died in hospital from burns. A number were injured, including children, who are suffering from burns. . The aeroplane was coming m to land when it undershot the aerodrome, crashed near a railway station and burst into flames. The casualties included some persons who were coming from a tram.

COMPARATIVE LOSSES

LONDON. October 19. The Axis Powers lost 131 planes last week. Ol these 125 weie shot, down in the Middle East, three over Britain and three over Western Et The e R.A.F. lost seventy planes last week, including thirty-six over Western Europe, and thirty-three in the Middle East.