Evening star., 1942-05-10

the Lightning was equipped with two
Allison motors. With a speed of more
than 400 miles an hour, it is declared to
be the swiftest of all planes. 1t is fiercely
armed with two 37-mm. cannon and an
array of so caliber machine guns.
Americas second contribution to high
altitude combat is the Republic PAT
Thunderbolt, a fighter, which owes its
existence to the development of 1000
horsepower air-cooled motor, the Pratt
& Whitney Double Wasp
The Thunderbolt, with its single en-
gine, is almost as fast as the Lightning,
though its weight of $4,000 pounds is
only 500 pounds less than that of the
P-38. Like the Bell Airacobra, the PAT
carries single 37-mm. cannon and bat
teries of machine guns. 1t has a new
propeller design of four blades and is
said to be the only American pursuit
ship designed since the war began.
The Lockheed Lightning only recently
began dribbling of the assembly line at
rate of few squadrons a month, and
the Republic Thunderbolt will not reach
the volume termed battle production"
until next August. Neither has been
tested in actual combat. The fact re-
mains that at present 80 per cent Of
American pursuit craft represents sue
cessive issues of the series called Curtiss
P-40. The newest of the line Is. the
P-40-F Warhawk
Ancient editions of the P-40 have
gained renown in the Far East through
victories over odds, particularly by the
Flying Tigers" when pitted against
Japan's surprise fighter plane. the Zero.
Zero Was Easy Prey.
According TO word reaching here, the
Zero was originally naval plane which
had been converted into land craft and
which endeavored to become a long
range pursuit by sacrificing armor and
gun weight to gasoline capacity. It
therefore fell an easy prey to even the
Oldest P-40, which had pilot armor and
a margin of firepower. One hit suficed
to bring down the Zero. while the P-40
could stand several. This Japanese "im-
provement" might have been a fatal
error, if only there had been a few hun
dred antiquated P-40s in the Far East.
On the brighter side, nothing has so
delighted and amazed airmen in this
country as the capacity shown by the
Flying Fortress to endure and deliver
punishment. Reports from the Far East
have been almost fabulous. In actual
combat with Japanese planes. a recent
summary said, only two of the Boeing
BIT bombers had been shot down, while
they had destroyed no less than so
enemy craft.
further idea as to how hard Ger
many can be hit from the air this wear
may be gained by review of the three
functions which aviation has acquired.
In the first and Oldest, planes are used
as auxiliaries to ground or naval forces.
In the other two, they operate as au-
tonomous units on expeditions for which
field armies and fleets are needless.
The United States and Britain are
strong in the first, which will not be
required except in case of a land invas-
ion of the Continent; have made be-
ginnings in the second, which will not
mature fully for another year or so, and
are almost wholly impotent for the pres
ent in the third
Functions Are Listed.
These functions may be listed as fol-
lows:
Support of field armies or naval fleets.
The outstanding example on land is the
German blitzkrieg against Poland and
France. Sea instances have been the
Nazi conquest of Norway, the successful
escape of the Scharnhorst and Gneise-
nau under a screen of aircraft and
Japan's joint air and naval campaign in
the Malay Archipelago. The sky weap-
ons used for this purpose are low alti-
tude pursuits and light attack bombers
on land. and at sea Ship-borne aviation
including dive and horizontal bombers,
torpedo planes and fighters
Demolition of military, naval. indus
trial and civilian objectives is the second
function of war aviation. Outstanding
examples have been the Nazi lombard
ment of London and Coventry, the
American hit-and-run foray against
Toxic and the current British raids over
Northern France and Germany.
The weapons used are heavy and
medium bombers and within the limits
OF their range, pursuits of high and mid
die altitude.
The third and most modern function
of combat aviation is the occupation of
territory. The classic example was the
German conquest of Crete In addition
to bombers and pursuits, this operation
requires paratroops and flying transports
for air infantry, light tanks, artillery
and supplies
Strings of glider trailers, towed by
airplane trucks" have been found in
dispenSable. In this field necessary for
any large-scale occupation of continental
territory from the air, the United States
is still in its infancy, and Britain is said
to be little better. Germany may be
further advanced, but has not yet found
1t advisable to undertake an aerial oc-
cupAtion Of the British Isles.