Evening star., 1942-05-10


picture. The rising tide of air po1U
THE massive, day and night Bernhard
l. ments waged over Europe by the
Royal Air Force and the mounting tide of
aircraft production in the United States
have been regarded by some sanguine
observers as portents heralding the OPEN
ing Of second front against Germany
and Victory Through Air Power" as
preached by Maj. Alexander P. de Sever
sky in a current book of this title.
With American-built heavy and me
dium bombers pouring across the Atlantic
on hourly schedules and crowds of Amer
ican flyers on the way, British airmen
have ranged with their 2-ton bombs from
Trondheim Fjord to Prague and from
Sicily to the Baltic submarine and air.
craft centers of Lubbock and Rostock.
The purpose, cheering House Of
Commons was told by Sir Archibald
Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air, "is
and will remain that of destroying the
enemy's capacity TO make war, by bomb
ing his factories, means of transport and
military stores wherever they are found"
During April alone. 1t Is reported,
British armada totaling 1000 aircraft
made Is raids into Germany, two against
Norway and one each over Italy and
Czecho-Slovakia, with loss Of only 137
planes. There Is an account Of one at
tacking unit which covered square mile
of sky. The communiques, supported by
photographs, tell of havoc on an un-
precedented scale suffered by the Reichs
war production facilities.
In the meantime, it is declared that
since Pearl Harbor American output of
military planes has risen 10 per cent in
number and even more in tonnage, which
reflects an increasing proportion of two
and four engine bombers.
The corresponding rise in production
Of aircraft motors is put at 68 per cent.
This has been effected with the conver-
sion Of the automotive industry still in
complete.
Air Superiority Forecast.
American expenditures for war planes
were $225, 900 900 in 1899. $544, 900 600 in
1910 and 81, ,75o 900 900 In 1s41. Confident
predictions are heard that President
Roosevelt's goal of $4,000 planes in 1912
will not only be attained but excelled.
England's Labor Minister Bevin recently
asserted that the United States today
is turning out more planes than Ger
many, Italy and Japan combined, and
that soon Britain and America will pos
seSs overwhelming air superiority in
Europe
In order to determine as factually as
possible just how hard the United States
and Britain can strike at Hitler by air
during 1912, on the assumption that all
goes we'll with production, pilot training
and deliveries, the writer has discussed
the problem with half dozen authorized
spokesmen in Washington, whose iden-
tity and departmental connections must
not be disclosed. The following summary
Is presented in the belief that it con-
st1tutes cross-section of informed, re-
sponsible and realistic American opinion:
Anglo-American bombardment of
Germany and occupied Europe, If con-
tinued at the present rate, will at the
minimum have painful nuisance value,
in damage to facilities and perhaps
morale. But such attacks from the air
have never yet exerted decisive effect
on production or civilian stamina Owing
to difficulties of observation, reports of
destruction through bombardment have
been in general notoriously exaggerated.
AT heights safe for reconnaissance, the
! camera itself has been known to lie
No one can predict to what degree the
air assault will accomplish its strategic
ends-protection of supply routes to
Murmansk and Archangel, diversion of
German aircraft from the Russian front
and reduction of the flow of German war
! materials to the East. If the last two
can be achieved on scale sufficiently
large, they may turn the balance be-
! tween Soviet defeat and victory.
| Mystery of Hitler's Inaction.
An unknown quantity in tho situation
is the mystery as to why Hitler, up to
this writing. had made no serious at
tempt to resist the British raids, even
those in daylight. 1t was suggested
that the Luftwaffe might be running
short of gasoline, that it was crippled
| from losses in Russia or that the output
of new models was tagging.
An explanation considered more likely
was that the Fuehrer understood the
Allied plan to crush the Luftwaffe be-
tween the air forces of the Soviet Union
and the Anglo-Saxon powers that he
was evading the jaws by declining battle
in the West for the present, and that he
was boarding planes for a new attack on
Russia or an onslaught against the Near
East. Underlying this theory is a per-.
suasion that the damage wrought by the
| R. A. F.. has not been severe enough in
military sense to alarm the Reich as yet
Many experts believe that the outcome
| of World War II will be determined dur
ing 1912 on the Russian steppes From
the Soviet Union have come urgent rep
reservations that the conflict will be lost
unless England and the United States
open a second front on the European
mainland. Decisions Of grand strategy
are made by President Roosevelt and
| Prime Minister Churchill. There u rea-