Evening star., 1941-03-06
Nazis Holding Back
4 Types Of Planes
For Spring Drive
Failure on Liquid Cooled
Motors of High Power
Is Reported
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.
Germany is holding back four
types of new warplanes for the
coming spring offensive against
Great Britain, according to reports
received here from British aviation
authorities.
These new combat aircraft have
been identified as the Focke- -Wulf
Fw.-187 twin-engined fighter,
single-engine Focke-Wulf fighter be-
lieved to be the Fw.-197. a new
Messerschmitt Me.-115 single-en-
gined fighter and the Heinkel He.-177
four-engined bomber.
In addition, there is new version
of the already well-known Junkers
Ju.-88 bomber, with slenderer
fuselage and more pointed wings,
and an improved version of the
Dornier Do.-215 bomber, which has
been designated the Do.-217 and
which is reputed to be faster.
The new single-engined Focke-
Wulf fighter is powered with new
B. M. w. 18-cylinder radial air.
cooled engine of $500 horsepower.
This is regarded here as the most
radical recent development in Ger
man airplane design, since all Ger
man fighting planes up to now have
been built around liquid en-
gines of approximately 1000 horse
power or less.
Limited to 1000 Horsepower.
The use of the radial air-cooled
type to obtain increased horsepower
is the first concrete evidence of Ger
man failure to develop liquid cooled
engines successfully in the larger
horsepower categories.
This parallels American and Brit
fish experience to date. Liquid
cooled engine production in these
countries has been limited to about
1000 horsepower, and new fighters
are being designed around large air.
cooled engines.
Efforts have been made in the new
Focke-Wulf fighter to achieve high
degree of maneuverability as we'll as
speed. This is evidence of the deadly
effectiveness of the more maneuver-
able British fighters. Both the Spit
fires and the Hurricanes have been |
outmaneuvering the German fighters
and have virtually driven the single
engined MesSerschmitt Me -109
models out of the English skies. This |
was admittedly a serious blow to the |
German invasion effort. since the |
Me.-109 was one of the great German
mass production models.
The new Me-115 is faster version
of the Me.-109, with DB.-605 "a
cylinder liquid-cooled "X" engine |
developing an unrated power output.
The Heinkel He. ILL is big bomber !
whose four engines are arranged in |
two tandem pairs, driving two pro-
pellers through gearing.
In Design Stage Before War.
All four of these new airplanes |
have been In process of development |
for many months and were in the /
design and experimental stage be-
fore the outbreak of the war They |
are intended as requirements for the |
planes with which Germany con-
ouered Poland, Norway, Belgium,
Holland and France, all of which |
are at least years old and have |
been made obsolete by British de-
velopments.
Some of these older airplanes have
been withdrawn entirely from the
action against England, first among
them the Stukas, or dive -bombers,
which were so deadly in the earlier
conquests, but which fell like clay
pigeons before the guns of the Brit
ish fighters and anti-aircraft guns.
The Messerschmitt Me.-109 model
lasted but little longer in the Battle
of Britain.
Skua Dive Bombers Hailed.
British naval officers who have
d'~cussed the fleet-air actions in the |
Mediterranean have reported that
tie British Skua naval dive-bomber, |
also used as torpedo plane. is the |
best dive-bomber in the world" The
Swordfsh and the Albacore, although |
not primarily intended for use as
dive -bomberS, also have proved eX-
cellent for this work. Ranking naval |
officers who have seen these air. |
planes in action, in competition with |
the German e-bombers. have re-
ported that "in all essentials these |
three airplanes are superior to the |
Junkers Ju.-87b," regarded as the |
best of the German dive-bomberS.
The British Skuas have justified |
the faith of the British Admiralty |
in the torpedo bomber, not only in
tie British victory at laramie, in |
which several Italian capital ships |
we're put out of action by Skua
attacks, but in other attacks on
Italian shipping in the Mediter-
ranean.
1t already has been indicated that |
new British warplanes are coming |
into action to meet the threat of
the new German fighters and that |
some of them, particularly the new
British "Whirlwind" single-engined |
fighter and the Spitflre III, are far
superior to any yet in action and |
are believed to outclass any of the
new aircraft the Germans have in
production.