Evening star., 1941-03-03
If Hitler Strikes by Air
5000 Bombers Would Require $4,000
Flyers and 10000 in Ground Crews

! be made of the requirements for
launching 5000 bombers in attack.
The first consideration Is that of
| fields. And even Hitler, with all
his conquered territory, has his air.
base problem. In the first place all
prepared airports in Holland, Bel
gium and northern France cannot
he used for concentrations of air
craft because the R. A. F. has made
them untenable. Known airports
like those at Amsterdam, Brussels,
Calais, Havre, Copenhagen and even
those in Norway, within close Strik-
| ing distance of England, have been
bombed relentlessly by the British.
For the use of bombers these
fields must be level and clear of
distractions for at least a mile
If there is any chance of the ground
becoming soft they must have some
kind of prepared runways camou-
| f1aged to avoid observation. For an
attack in waves of 500 the Germans
must have at least 100 fields, each
capable, on the average, of handling
Is bombers
May Have 100 Air Fields.
Preparation of a field is job
that takes time. Every hole must
be filled, interconnecting telephone
systems must be established be-
tween the bases. runways must be
put down where needed, fuel and
oil storage tanks installed and sand
bag projections erected in the shape
of "U" to afford protection from
bombardment in case the field is
spotted by the enemy. These u
shaped shelters take about 1000
bags of gravel or earth each, 10000
for each field, or 100000 for 100
hopping-off bases.
The NaziS could dispense with
sand-bag protection, relying solely
upon the success of camouf1age to
hide their craft, but the English
use sand-bag protection and it has
saved them many planes.
1t is known that the Germans
have the planes. 1t may be con-
ceded that if they are preparing
for a decisive air attack they have
the fields, 100 or more. We come
now to the matter of fuel and mu-
nitions for the fleet of 5000 bomb
ers. The 5000 are divided into
two classes, 1000 being the heavy
bombers, four-engined affairs capa-
BILE of carrying two tons of high
explosives. the other 5000 medium
bombers having two engines and a
carrying capacity of one and one
half tons of bombs on a short
mission.
If, in one all-out attack, each of
these bombers would be in the air
for 3 hours, the 5000 would con-
sumo 100000 gallons of gasoline
and 10000 gallons of lubricating
oil. Six million gallons Of gasoline
would fuel 100000 big motor cars
for trip from New York to Phila-
delphia. If this comparison does
not give an adequate idea of the
amount required in such an attack
it may be stated that the total con-
Sumption OF gaSollne Tor ali 1ormS OF
transportation on a 3-hour aver
age in the United States was 9,744.-
$50 gallons last year, when Amer
ica's fuel consumption was high
owing to increased training of air.
men, civil and military.
Each bomber engine would burn
100 gallons of gasoline an hour.
That's conservative estimate for
the powerful engines In a sniTltary
crafta The flying time between the
improvised bases and military OBJ
jectives in England would average
about 3 hours including time to
climb to a predetermined altitude
to maneuyer into position to drop
the bombs and fly back.
Six million gallons Of gasoline and