FIRST REAL AIR WAR FOR JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 292, 11 December 1941, Page 5

FIRST REAL AIR WAR FOR JAPAN

Cairo. Dec 9 “The Japanese Air Force will he under a great handicap when it meets fighters who have learned to fly in this war.'' said Air-Marshal Drummond. depute air-i ommander-in-chief in the Middle East in an interview. “The Japanese have never had to fight a real air hattie yet. and consequently they have not been able to learn from experience, as our squadrons have done .” Air-Marshal Drummond mace no attempt to discount th. prowess of the enemy s air force in the ".estern Desert at present. He said: “The German pilots fighting in IJma tojay are a picked bum h. Though their letmlieis may l>e small they know how to make themselves most Mt They let the Italians meet the main attack and wait to pick oft special targets themselves. And the latest improved Italian tighter planes, hacked by the Germans, must not be under-rated. The enemy has a far more formidable air force now than when the first German push was made in Libya. Owing to the ea-e with which the Germans van obtain reinforcements and replaiemenls for their pilots, the fact that the number of their planes announ.cd as destroyed) or damaged does not by any means I Indicate that then air strength has been seriously diminish- •<: