AIR WARFARE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24912, 11 May 1942, Page 3

AIR WARFARE

GREATER MOBILITY DESIRED COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT SUGGESTED " Pick-a-back " aircraft operation—in which two planes, one mounted on the back of the other, take off together and are then uncoupled in mid-air—may prove the answer to the United Nations' problem of how to achieve greater mobility in air warfare. This suggestion was made by Major Oliver Stewart, British air expert, in a recent broadcast. The " pick-a-back " or composite aircraft consists of two aircraft, one superimposed on the other, and both locked together. They take off as one unit, the larger machine being underneath and the smaller one, which is intended to do the job, on top. Roth Aid in Take-off Both machines help each other during'the take-off. Each one contributes something to the lift by giving its wing surface, and to the thrust, by running its engines. In this way, the* upper machine can be loaded up to a big weight, yet can be taken from a small or rough aerodrome. If it had to take off in the ordinary way, under its own power, it would need a bigger and better aerodrome. " One of the first requirements in achieving mobility for land-based aircraft." he continued, "is to give them sufficient power in taking off to carry their special equipment 'such as bomb hoists, cranes, and spares. Small or improvised aerodromes present a problem to which composite launching may be the answer." Analysing the mobility factor in enemy air operations, Maj6r Stewart said it had played a major part in Axis strategy both in Libya and in the timing of Japan's attack in the Far East. Japan, he said, was brought into the war when German air strength was waning, to draw the United Nations' air strength to the Far East and thus weaken their air position in Libya sufficiently to permit General Rommel to take the initiative. Superior Mobility He explained that the German Air Force enjoys superior mobility and can, therefore, pin down more than its own strength in Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. Neither the British nor the American air forces have the mobility necessary to allow us to reinforce British air power largely and quickly in the Pacific without dangerously weakening it elsewhere, he stated. Events, therefore, he added, point to the need for devising means of conferring increased mobility on some sections of our air forces. Ship-borne aircraft have mobility, but they cannot face land-based aircraft on equal terms, as the latter have superiority in size. The essential, he said, is to find a method of giving land-based aircraft something approaching the mobility of ship-based aircraft. Given such mobility, the Axis' enemies could recover their position in the Pacific, as their "aircraft engineering has proved itself superior to that of the Axis on many occasions."