RED AIR FORCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 28 June 1943, Page 3

RED AIR FORCE

COMPARISONS WITH LUFTWAFFE London, June 26. While the world still awaits an eruption on the Eastern Front the Red Air Force is systematically raiding the Luftwaffe’s first line and second line aerodromes, where the Germans have great concentrations of planes. These attacks, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, have been maintained practically daily since 9th June and damage to German aircraft is considerable. The extent is unknown but Lieut.Colonel Denisov, the Russian air expert, points out firstly that the Germans in Kuban during May failed to attain air superiority and lost threequarters of their operating fighter squadrons; secondly, the Germans are having exceptionally heavy losses in massed raids. Lieut.-Colonel Denisov attributes the Germans’ heavy losses to the fact that the Red Air Force is stronger in quality and Russian fighters have improved. Lieut.-Colonel Defiisov added that the Fockewulf 190 had been countered by large numbers of Yak 7’s and Lavochkin s’s which are the new Russian fighter now being mass-pro-duced. “With Spitfires and Airacobras they are unquestionably superior to German fighters,” he said. Lieut.-Colonel Denisov revealed that 112 attack planes had been perfected and the Tupolev 2 had been added to the Russian bomber force. "The Germans on the other hand are still flying old machines. Their attempts to modify the Juß7 by fitting two cannons and using it for attack have not produced a significant improvement Our smashing up of many aerodromes has compelled the Germans to avoid concentrating a large number of planes in any single district. They now form raiding forces in the air during flight to the target. Also our strong fighter force simply does not allow the Germans to appear in small groups. Thus the massing of air forces which the Germans are employing must be regarded as arising from necessity rather than choice.” — P.A.