ENEMY MAKESHIFT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20385, 23 October 1940, Page 2

ENEMY MAKESHIFT

FIGHTERS AS BOMBERS GROPING FOR MASTERY SUCCESS- STILL ELUSIVE LONDON, Oct. 18. Many German aeroplanes which, as a result of brilliant manoeuvring by British pilots, have been forced down intact are now being flown to Royal Air Force stations, where lighter pilots can fly them and learn by experience their weak points.

This direct study of German machines has helped experts to find put why in the past week 82 German aeroplanes were shot down for the loss of 43 of our fighters, odds which are more even than in any week since the German attacks began. Trusting in Speed

The reason, says the air correspondent of the Sunday Times, is that the Germans have pressed into service lighters as light bombers, trusting in their speed to elude the defence. At the same time, attacks been scattered over a wide area in an effort to evade the ring of fighter stations around London. Fighter versus fighter battles, naturally, have been more even..

The idea behind the scattered raids is to present the Royal Air Force with a problem which will be incapable of complete solution until the British machines are vastly superior numerically. Experts point out that no serious pretence at bomb-aiming can be made from a single-seater fighter not equipped for dive-bombing. The air correspondent of the Observer says: “The Germans, by using Messerschmitts 110 and 109 as bombers have shown that they are groping for a high performance solution to the day bomber problem, but converted fighters are not good aircraft—specialised high-speed machines must be built. Tactical Contrast Night bombing is in tactical contrast to day bombing. Whereas the day bomber can be prevented by efficient interception forces from fulfilling its job of getting through in mass and destroying large areas in a few minutes, as the Germans did in Rotterdam, night bombers often can get through. The disadvantage of night bombers is that they cannot work in big formations, therefore, they cannot develop such a heavy striking attack, and there is greater difficulty in identifying targets with any certainty. Experiments in the use of large formations for night bombing may be expected. ~ , It is emphasised that the lesson that can bq drawn from the fact that the efficiency of the Royal Air Force prevents German mass formations from executing whosesale destruction on ports and factories, virtually stopping production, is twofold: — Mass Day-Raid problem First, Britain must continue to build up and improve her fighter defences in order to be sure of holding further mass daylight raids and inflicting yet heavier losses on the German machines; secondly, Britain must work urgently for a technical and tactical se.ution to the mass day-raid problem, so that, when the time comes, she car, iuuncli such raids on Germany v.dti.ous neavy losses. Higher speeds, heavier armament, and strange’armour —experts say that these are the major urgent needs. Major Alexander dc Seversky, tne famous American aeroplane designer, savs that the British Spitfire’s 25 miles an hour advantage probably saved Eritain and altered the whole course of the war. The Germans had made the mistake of sacrificing design in Older to get mass },reduction. Britain had proved the advantage of quality