RUSSIA HAS 15,000 PLANES IN SERVICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 March 1949, Page 6

RUSSIA HAS 15,000 PLANES IN SERVICE

LONDON, March 11. “The Russian Air Force has about 15,000 aircraft organised in some 500 regiments of about 30 aircraft each, says Wing Commander Asher Lee, a lecturer at the Royal Air Force Staff College, in an article discussing Russion air strength in the Daily Telegraph. “The bulk of these 15,000 aeroplanes,” he says, “are organised into tactical air armies working to the main Soviet Army headquarters at Leningrad, Minsk, Odessa, Tiflis, Tashkent, and to Chita in the Fai East. The naval air force is small, and totals less than 2000 aeroplanes, mostly fighters. The outstanding feature is the absence of any striking force of aircraft-carriers. “The Russians owe much to German technical knowledge. By acquiring three American atom bomb carrying Superfortresses which forcelanded in Siberia after a raid on Japan, they have built their own version with the help of imported German aircraft workers. “This Soviet heavy bomber, which is the current model in most of the Russian long-range bomber units, is called the Tu-70. The Russians are now making 75 to 100 of them a month. The four engines of over 2200 horse-power each, give power to lift about 10,0001 b bombs for a radius or action of over 1000 miles. The aircraft compares generally with the British Lancaster and Lincoln, but its maximum bomb load is lighter. Radar And Jet Progress “On the other hand, the Russians are still only in the nursery stage of developing vital radar aids for guiding their bombers to their targets. The Russian Air Force has no heavy jet bomber in squadron service yet. “In the next year or so the Russians will concentrate, on building up a maximum force of jet-propelled fighters and fighter-bombers, and, like Canada and the United States, will give high priority to the building of a chain of coastal radar stations along the Arctic, the Black Sea, and the shores of the Far Eastern maritime provinces. Russia is training technicians and workers to do both thfiqp Ihi‘n. a ‘ c ? “By the° end of 1948 the Russians had well over 1000 single and twinjet fighters and fighter-bombers in operation units. The engines do not stand up to the same endurance tests as those installed in the British Vampire and Meteor, but in top-speed and climb and flying range there is not much to choose between the British and Soviet jet fighters. The Russian jet aeroplanes are more heavily armed, being generally equipped with 30 m.m. and 37 m.m. cannon, compared with the 20 m.m. guns on the British aeroplanes. They also use rockets to boost' their performance. “It is hard to assess the true fighting value and efficiency of the Soviet Air Force. In the Second World War it was never really tested. In the first year or so it was so obsolescent that it could not cope with the modern equipment of its German adversaries. In the last two years of the war, when its equipment was modern, the position was reversed. The Luftwaffe was so heavily engaged in the West that the forces it could spare for the Eastern front were no match for the Russians either in numbers or in quality. “At British-U.S. Level”

“As in the case of the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force, many of the Soviet Air Force’s weapons are in an experimental stage. As regards the large V2-type rockets—the kind used by the Germans against England—the Russians are almost certainly at the level of British and American development. For example, they can probably launch a 3500-miles-ana-hour rocket to a height of about 75 miles, with an explosive charge of about a ton, a range of about 400 to 500 miles, and a varying accuracy requiring a large target of about 15 square miles to ensure a reasonable percentage of hits. “In the world of radar development, the Russians continue to be several years behind the Royal Air Force. In spite of German samples and technical help, radar may well be the Achilles heel of the Soviet Air Force in any future long-range and long-term air struggle. If, however, Russia has a shorter Continental land war in the next few years, her air force will do her proud, and its potential should not be underestimated by those who formulate European plans,”