Evening star., 1942-07-15
.RAF Almost Entirely
Replaced Since Start
OF Battle for Britain
Younger Men Take Over
With Newer Planes, but
Trudition Is Same
BY DREW MIDDLETON,

Wide World.
LONDON.-TheR Royal Air Force
has changed almost completely in
equipment, personnel and methods
since beginning of the Battle of
Britain two years ago.
Then there was a ratio of one
Raj plane to four German aircraft;
today the British have more planes
than the Luftwaffe. The RAF
fought the first year of the war with
miscellaneous collection of bomb
ers, none of which had been tested
in warfare The German Junkers.
Dorniers and Heinkels had been
tested in Spain.
Today the four -motored Strings,
LancasterS and Halifaxes dump as
many bombs on Germany in week
as the entire command did in the
first six months of 1910
Fighters Add Power.
The Luftwaffe has been unable to
build a four -motored bomber COM
parable to the British heavy ships
as yet. Nor have German designers
answered the challenge of the twin
engined Manchester, a plane which
carries bomb load equal to that Of
many four -motored craft.
The early Hurricanes and Spit
fires have been replaced by new
models of greater fire power, in
creased speed and maneuverability
Cannon of increasing caliber sprout
in place of machine guns.
Working with the two veteran
craft are new fighters like the
Whirliwind, Typhoon and Bristol
Beauf1ghter.
The contrast between the men
who fly the new models and those
who sent their aircraft hurtling into
the Battle of Britain is equally
marked.
Younger Men Take Over.
The men who fought in 1910 were
almost entirely pre-war RAF pilots
or members of the RAF Volunteer
Reserve. They were a gay and GAL
liant lot. During operations the at
mosphere around the fighter and
bomber stations was more like that
of a fraternity house before big
football game than a base for opera
tions.
Those pilots built the tradition on
which present morale depends. But
the heirs carry on in a different
atmosphere.
For one thing these boys have diff
ferent roots. Most are drawn from
the great mass of young British
manhood who f1ocked to the colors
in 1899.
Their training schedule, unlike
the LuftWaffe's, was only slightly
crtailed by actual warfare. The
men are largely the ones trained In
England, Australia and Canada un-
der the Empire Air Training
Scheme.
Picnic Atmosphere Gone.
Training became as serious as
operational flying.
The atmosphere of the picnic is
gone even from fighter stations.
There is little heavy drinking and
on days when operations are sched-
uled most airmen conf1ne them
selves to a glass of beer.
Not that the RAF has gone Sissy.
There are real "strafes" when the
boys hit London on leave.
They talk the business" Of bomb
ing Germany or shooting the Luft-
waite out of the sky necessarily.
The old law that shop cannot be
talked in mess has been overridden
by airmen.
To fancy that these youths are
idealists fired by q passion for de-
mocracy or the. British Empire u
hardly less mistaken than the be-
lief of some faint hearts that they
intend establishing themselves as
some sort of Fascist corps.
Some are philosophers, some as
foolish as any freshman. Esthetes
and potential gangsters fly wing to
wing.
The most conspicuous feature OF
their code is the insistence on mod
esty. Understatement is the ap-
proved mode of description and
"bullthrowing" Is out.