PLANES AND TANKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24783, 6 December 1941, Page 9

PLANES AND TANKS

BATTLES IN LIBYA FANTASTIC SPECTACLES (Rec. 10 p.m.) RUGBY, Dec, 4. In a war commentary broadcast talk Group Captairt x Helmore discussed the time aspects of air warfare in the pres-' ent battle of Libya. A fight of aeroplane against tank provided, he said, perhaps the most fantastic spectacle of this battleground. Battle was waged by an aircraft at a speed of 300 miles an hour with cannon and bomb against the gun of a tank travelling at 50 miles an hour. The Hurricane bomber which is used for this purpose is the former Hurricane fighter converted to carry one 2501 b bomb under each wing. It has an advantage over the specialised German dive-bomber in that, having disposed of its bombs, it can immediately become an efficient fighter aircraft once more

"A Hurricane bomber's attack on a moving vehicle presents a combined problem in relation to motion ; and gravity of a remarkable' kind, for a Hurricane bomber carries a delayed action bomb which allows it time to get -clear, of the blast and the pilot must drop this bomb at the point where he thinks the tank will be when the bomb 'explodes. I am happy to say that a number of German tanks have already kept their rendezvous at the Appointed spot." Group Captain Helmpre then referred to the co-ordination between aircraft and ground forces., "This coordination between aircraft and ground forces is arranged directly between the army and air commanders, and in most operations direct radio contact is maintained between aircraft and the troops actually engaged. As for the conditions of desert warfare, they combine all the features of a fighter's nightmare. 'Sand in the works' is an old complaint for thp mechanical workshop and the desert is. a veritable dirt-track. Blast air cleaners have to be used to collect pounds of abrasive material which would otherwise put aircraft engine? out of action in a few hours. I saw one of these air cleaners a few days ago returned for inspection, and it had picked up what looked like the contents of a child's bucket at the seaside, for in the desert torrential rain or stifling heat gives man artd machine a weird alternation between bog and dust."