AIR STRENGTH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23941, 17 October 1939, Page 8

AIR STRENGTH

BRITISH MACHINES COMPARISON WITH GERMAN CRAFT EQUAL SPEED AND GREATER RANGE Naturally no country is going to divulge its secrets, but from what can be gathered from official and semiofficial publications the planes of Great: Britain have equal speed and more range than their German counterparts. The Society of British Aircraft Constructors recently stated officially that R.A.F. bombers with a top speed of 295 m.p.h. can make non-stop flights under active service conditions, from London to Egypt. Morocco. Turkey or Western Russia, and that if advance bases in France. Malta and Egypt were used, almost every objective in Europe becomes vulnerable to bomoers of several categories, some of which carry explosives by the ton. The Bombing Fleet The largest bomber in service with the R.A.F. is the Vickers Wellington. It is built on the " geodetic " principle, and can carry heavy loads. It can bombard Berlin from British air bases and return without landing, its still air range being 3240 miles. It is powered by two Bristol Pegasus air-cooled engines and is in service in large numbers. The smaller twin-engine bomber in the R.A.F. is the Bristol Blenheim, which is about the same size as the Lockheeds of Union Airways. The Handley Page medium bomber cari carry large bomb loads up to 1990 miles non-stop at a top speed of 26.> m.p.h. Hundreds of these craft are in service. The Fairy Battle single engine bomber is an all-metal monoplane with a range of 1200 miles with a full war load at 257 m.p.h. Another fine single engine bomber is the Vickers Wellesley of the same type that flew from Egypt to Australia last year. On the secret list is the Bristol Beaufort twin-engine bomber, about which all that is known is that it is faster, and has a longer range, than the Bristol Blenheim. Bombers on the German side are headed by the twin-engined Junkers 88 with a top speed of 280 and a range of 1250 miles fully loaded. The He 111 and He lIIK are similar types with top speeds of 260-280 and ranges up to 2000 miles. The Dornier bombers DO 17 and 215 are fast medium machines with speeds from 293-310 and ranges up to 1860 miles. A particular feature of the Dorniers Is that they have a long, narrow fuselage and impressive front, which houses the whole crew. They are comparatively lightly armed, and depend for defence more on speed than armament. Germany also has other type bombers, including Dorniers, Heinkels, Blohm, and Voss and Junkers with speeds ranging from 200-235. The performances of these machines are largely secret, the figures having been obtained from exported models which all round are slower than those in regular army use. Great Britain's fastest fighter is the Vickers Spitfire interceptor, with a top speed of 362, an improved version of the Supenmarine Spitfire. In addition to its speed, it has an astonishing rate of fire. The Hawker Hurricane, also an interceptor, with a top speed of 336, can stay up two hours and can climb from the ground to 10,000 feet in a little more than four minutes. It has variable-pitch propellers, and is fitted with eight forward-firing, speeded-up Browning machine-guns in the wings. These guns can concentrate on a target a hail of lead at the rate of more than 8000 rounds a minute. A new secret' fighter is the Boulton Paul Defiant, which can better 300 m.p.h. It carries a gunner in addition to the pilot. The gunner sits in a turret behind the pilot and fires two guns. The pilot fires guns fixed in the wings. It has a triple-bladed propeller. The following -table, with natural reservations due to undisclosed performances, shows the relative merits of the leading planes of the two forces: — Fighters

The following table shows the distance by direct air line from important points:— Miles, Paris to Berlin 540 Metz to Berlin 400 Strasbourg to Berlin .. ~ 380 London to Berlin 570 Norwich to Bremen .. .. 320 Norwich to Kiel 380 Liverpool to Heligoland .. 450 Newcastle to Kiel 470 Aberdeen to Kiel 530 The direct line from London to Berlin crosses the Netherlands, as does that from Norwich to Bremen, so the flying distance in order to avoid international complications would be increased in those instances.

Britain m.p.h. Range. Vickers Spitfire 362 600 Hawker Hurricane .. 336 660 Boulton Paul Defiant (secret) +300 — Germany Heinkel 112 .... 354 2 hrs Messerschmitt 109 .. 304 IJhrs Bombers Britain Bristol Blenheim 295 2000 Hawker Henley 272 2000 Handley Page Hampden 265 1990 Vickers Wellington .. 180 2240 Bristol Beaufort (secret) +300 +2000 Germany Dornier 215 .. .. 310 1860 Dornier 17 298 1365 Junkers 88 .... 280 1250 He 111 .. 2 SO 1480 He 111k 261 2100