BRITISH SPECIALIST ASSESSES STRENGTH OF RED AIR FORCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27028, 12 March 1949, Page 7

BRITISH SPECIALIST ASSESSES STRENGTH OF RED AIR FORCE

Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 11. The Russian Air Force has about 15,000 aircraft organised in some 500 regiments of about 30 aircraft each, says Wing Commander Asher Lee, lecturer of the Royal Air Force Staff College, in an article discussing Russian air strength published by the Daily Telegraph. The bulk of these 15,000 planes, he says, are organised into tactical air armies working with Soviet army headquarters at Leningrad, Minsk, Odessa, Tiflis, Tashkent, and Chita in the Far East.

The Naval Air Force is small, and totals less than 2000 planes, mostly fighters. The outstanding feature is the absence of any striking force, of aircraft carriers.

Wing Commander Lee says the Russians owe much to the technical knowledge of the Germans. By acquiring three American atom bomb-carrying Super-Fortresses which force-landed in Siberia after a raid on Japan, they built their own version with the help of imported German‘aircraft workers. Heavy Bomber Units

This Soviet heavy bomber, which is the current model in most Russian long-range bomber units, is called the TU7O. The Russians are now making 75 to 100 of them each month. The four engines of over 2200 horse-power each give sufficient power to lift about 10,0001 b of bombs for a radius of action of over 1000 miles. The aircraft compares generally with the British Lancaster and Lincoln, but its maximum bomb-load is lighter. On the other hand, the Russians are still only in the nursery stage of developing vital radar aids for guiding their bombers to their targets. Wing Commander Lee says the Russian Air Force has no heavy jet bomber in squadron service yet. He continues: “In the next year or so the Russians will concentrate on building up a maximum force of jetpropelled fighters and fighter-bombers, and like Canada and the United States, will give high priority to the building of a chain of coastal radar stations along the Arctic, the Black Sea, and the shords of the Far Eastern maritime provinces.” . , , . Russia has equipment and designers and is training technicians and workers to do both these things. By the end of 1948, Commander Lee says, the Russians had well over 1000 single

and twin jet fighters and fighterbombers in operational units. The engines in these machines do not stand up to the same endurance tests as those installed in the British Vampire and Meteor, but in top speed, rate of climb and flying range, there is not much to choose between the British and Soviet jet fighters. Heavy Armament The Russian jet planes are more heavily armed, being generally equipped with 30mm and 37mm cannon compared with 20mm guns on the British planes They also use rockets to boost the fighter’s performance. It is hard to assess the true fighting value and efficiency of the Soviet Air Force, he continues. In World War II it was never really tested. In the first year or so it was so obsolescent that it could not cope with the modern equipment of its German adversaries. In the last two years of the war, when its equipment was modern, the position was reversed. The Luftwaffe was so heavily engaged in the west that the forces it could spare for the eastern front were no match for the Russians, either in numbers or in quality. As in the case of the RAF and the United States Air Force, many of the Soviet Air Force’s weapons are in the experimental stage. Rocket Development

As regards large V2 type rockets — the kind used by the Germans against England—the Russians are almost certainly at the level of Anglo-American development. For example, they can probably launch a 3500 miles an hour rocket to a height of about 75 miles with an explosive charge of about a ton, a range of about 400 to 500 miles, and a varying accuracy requiring a large target of about 15 square miles to ensure a reasonable percentage of hits. Radar Research

In the world of radar development, says Wing Commander Lee, the Russians continue to be several years behind the Royal Air Force. In spite of German samples and technical help, radar may well be the Achilles Heel of the Soviet Air Force in any future long-range and long-term air struggle. If, however, Russia has a shorter continental land war in the next few years her air force will do her proud, and its potential should not be underestimated by those who formulate European plans.