Evening star., 1942-10-19
owl Reports Allies
Selection Of Planes
Is Fairly Adequate
Con Never Be Superior
To Enemy in All Types,
Analysis Declares
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Continued From First Page.)
In an analysis of American air.
cra1t operations, detailing the per-
1ormance Of the various types of
craft this country is using. It re-
peated the American "box score" be-
tween February / and September
20. when 279 enemy planes were
oestroyed with loss of ia by the
United States.
a. Losses Will Rise.
In this connection, however. a
note OF warning against over-op-
timism was sounded.
In this war the United States
has just begun to fight" the report
aid. I'm the months to come,
0attles may be lost and crushing
ue1eats suffered. 1t seems certain
that as our offensive activity is
stepped up, casualties will increase
and the losses in aircraft will rise
with the speed of our participation
This the public must realize, and
for this 1t must be prepared. Against
the proficient German Luftwaffe we
pave yet been only slightly engaged.
Against the japanese our offensive
has only barely begun
At the outset of the report it was
explained that the United States, in
common with other powers, aims at
= balanced" air force, with special
Wpes OF craft for different opera
tions.
mo nation" it continues. lever
has attained this development in
ITS fullness-although the United
Nations in their combined air
squadrons are close to it-because
no group of military men conceiv-
ably could anticipate all the de-
mands to be made by war.
Disagreement in Services.
I'm reaching toward the ideal,
the United States Air Forces also
have been hamstrung in the past
by disagreement in their own fight
ing services as to the weight and
power to be welded by air power.
I'm spite of this, the United States
went into the war with a we'll
integrated air force; not all of it
distributed with maximum effect"
Some American warplanes, it con-
tinues. are badly designed or ILL
matched against the equipment of
the enemy. Some planes now in
action have definite deficiencies,
even within the purposes for which
they we're designed, but even such
aircraft often have fought admir-
ably, because of their positive vir-
tues and inherent soundness, de-
spite such tactical handicaps as cli-
mate, inadequate AFRAID warnings
and other considerations of war.
"It is also a fact that some Amer
lean aircraft have proved excellent
In every theater in which they have
been employed"
Navy Had Old Planes.
Amplifying, the report continues:
THE Navy went into the war with
considerable quantities of aircraft
that were not of the latest type,
and unquestionably suffered losses
that could have been avoided had
the latest equipment been available.
But secret battle reports which have
been examined by the Office of War
Information show that the latest
doating-base aircraft of the Navy
are, when compared plane for plane
with the planes of other navies,
superior in all types.
"In battle areas of the Pacific
where it has had its most complete
trial, Army flying equipment hardly
can be said to have had a fair trial
In the early days of the war. The
disruption caused by the surprise
japanese attack and the necessity
of retiring to bases inadequate to
the technical demands of aircraft
operation imposed conditions that
no aircraft could meet fully"
The agency pointed out that in
China, where the American Volun-
teer Group flew P-40s with the aid
of the excellent Chinese AFRAID
warning system, the American ships
destroyed 218 japanese planes with
the loss of "a. But in the February
raid on Port Darwin, Australia,
eight of 10 P-4os were shot down by
the japanese, mostly because of lack
of warning. Likewise in the Philip
pines, Army craft were hampered
because the "air-raid warning sys-
TEN was disrupted by fifth column
lists before it had once functioned."
Falling back continuously on in
adequate fields, with inadequate
facilities, all through the Japanese
drive to the Southwest Pacific, "P-
4op performance was decidedly less
than standard for its own capabili-
ties" Owl said.
The newest fighters have not been
fully tried out in the European the
ater yet, the report says, but ap-
praisal of the older types-Bell P-39
and Curtiss P-40-"compels the con-
clusion that they are not right for
operation under today's high alti-
tude tactics in England"
Both Are Outclassed.
"Both are outclassed. it is adj
naitted, by the British Spitfire and
the German Messerschmitt 109 and
Focke- -Wulf 1870.
On the contrary, because of pc
culiarities in the tactical situations
the P-39 is described as splendid
weapon" on the Russian and Aleu-
tian fronts and the P-40 in Egypt.
Two newer fighter types, the twin
engined Lockheed P-38 Gightning)
and single-engined Republic PAT
(ThunderbolD are in production and
show great promise as high-aititude
pursuit planes it is said.
"Yet the public should be warned,
owl said, "(a) that neither plane
is the complete answer to the fighter
problem (probably no plane ever viii
be- and (b) that neither has beer
tested adequately in battle"
While contending that battle re.
ports have established the suprem'
acy, within their own fields. of the
four-engined Flying Fortress ane
Liberator bombers, the owl disputed
claims of superiority sometimes made
for the four -motored Lancaster
bomber of the British RAF. The
Lancaster, Owl said, can carry 6