Evening star., 1940-02-18
LMERICA?


force to protect the richest and most envied
nation in the universe No living man can
begin to predict the state of the world and its
wan by that time. 1t is probably the most
dangeyous sixteen months the world has ever
faced. Startling military advancements will
tnle place - and the greatest of these will
he h the field OF the deadly long
bomber.
1t is this bomber, constantly lengthening
its range OF action, that has upset the art of
war as much as did the invention of gun
powder. 1t has built up whole new philos-
ophy of diplomacy and war. Power politics.
which we read 80 much about. are really
bomber politics." for the dictators realize
that the bomber is the true expression of
modern Force.
Italian bomber politics drove the British
feet out Of the Mediterranean in the Ethio-
plan crisis. German bomber politics humbled
France and England at Munich. and lost
them Czechoslovakia and their own self
respect.
AND once Germany shifted her gears from
bomber politics to actual bomber fighting,
she broke the back of the inadequate Polish
air force, robbed the army of its ''eyes" and
made troop concentrations impossible. Mill
tary experts had agreed that it would take
from three to six months to bring Poland to
her knees; yet within twenty-four hours of
the start of the undeclared war, German
bombers had completed the horrible job of
destroying Polish airdromes, 50 that there was
no place for the planes of France and England
to land even if they had dared attempt
rescue by air.
The devastating Bhtskrieg that followed
was largely predicated on the astounding VIC
tories of Goering's bombers. In total of
seven days the remarkable teamwork of the
infantry and artillery had blasted open the
way for the Panzer mechanized divisions to
strike their swift and deadly blows. But, our
Air Corps men insist, it was the bombers that
had paved the way.
And even more impressive evidence of the
part that such bombers can and will play in
modern warfare is the belief of our Air Corps
men that Hitler may already have lost the
whole war because his bombers lack vital
additional $50 miles in their operating radius
If Hitler great fleet of bombers had bomb
ing radius of $50 miles instead of maximum
of GOO, he might have been able to destroy
England docks, ports, factories - and posi-
bly, even her Grand Fleet. Only compara-
lively small number OF his bombers have an
actual bombing radius of more than $50 or 400
miles, Bombing radius means the distance a
bomber can fly with pay load of bombs and
return) Even with scanty 6OO-mile radius
Hitler has been able to greatly curtai the op-
Grafton of the proud Grand Fleet in the North
Sea, and mine such forbidden areas as the
English Channel and the mouth of the Thames.
A second factor is evident: despite his
bombers' short range Hitter might have been
able to wreak untold damage on England at
the very start - il he had had a great force of
finely trained nayigators to make the most of
his available air power. But that he lacks such
navigators is obvious.
And his lack of highly perfected bomb
sight may likewise have deferred him in TAX
ing this one desperate chance he had for
speedy victory against England. Our own
marvellous bomb sight, which some of our
flyers claim can drop bomb on battleship
at 5000 feet, is one of the few great military
secrets we possess.)
BY spring all these three German air weak
nesses will probably have been corrected. We