Evening star., 1943-09-26
By Richard L. Stokes.

home ports for the purpose of arming
them heavily with antiaircraft cannon.
They are at last beginning to reappear
Churchill revealed that as he spoke
convoy was under attack. The Navy gives
assurance that it is prepared to cope
with Germany's new plan for its sub
marines to shoot it out on the surface
with Allied aircraft.
There is no longer disposition to
scoff at men like Air Marshal Harris in
Great Britain and Gen. Arnold in the
United States, when they assert that
with force 10 or 20 times more power
full Germany could be knocked out OF
the war this year. through long-range
bombardment of the Reich's war plants
and communications. Accepted as pos
sibly sound" is the contention that VIC
tory would have been more rapid and
less costly if American industry had con-
centrated upon aircraft the output law
ished on tanks and battleships.
But the controlling view is that the
mistake-if it was mistake-has been
made, and that the only realistic pros
pect is that of attacking the European
citadel with hard and bloody ground
operations-employing air power, of
course, as a prime constituent.
In fact, there are men of high place
in the War Department who maintain
that the Billy Mitchell group" now
sovereign in the Army Air Forces is so
obsessed with the traditional American
theory of strategic" bombing that
tactical" training has been dangerously
neglected in the Military Establishment
as whole The classic example of the
latter Is the German air-ground team
which overran continental Europe.
Fear is often expressed that American
Army aviation may be quite as unbal-
anced, in the opposite direction, as the
Luftwaffe proved to be when this
ground-minded feet undertook the
strategic" errand of conquering Britain
from the skies. While intensifying long
range bombardment to the utmost, such
officers hold that, with Europes invasion,
the time is overdue for swinging back
the pendulum of air instruction to the
blitzkrieg of 1899.
The change would be a matter of
training rather than equipment. AS is
believed to be untrue of Germany,
American industry has ample resources
| for supplying both programs-the fighter
| planes and attack bombers necessary for
| air-ground partnership, as well as four
| engine craft and long distance inter-
ntn 1,1yH ct ,;oj,
tions. 1t is matter of record, on the
| other hand, that three years had elapsed.
| following the conquest of Poland, before
the earliest beginnings were made in this
| country toward development of ground
| air teamwork.
The Army has about discarded the
| dive bomber, which has turned out to
| be facile prey for swift pursuit ships,
but has found nothing better for close
in-flghting against land troops than the
| fleet, agile and murderous A-20 Douglas
| Havoc attack bomber In the North
American P-51B Mustang, a fast and
| rugged craft of newest model, the air
| staff believes it possesses the most eff
cient of all tactical pursuit ships
The Nays Grumman Hellcat, sue
cessor of the famous Wildcat, made its
debut in the raid on Marcus Island and
was pronounced to be the best carrier
borne fighter plane in the world For
heavier jobs, the Navy Is using today
the Chance-Vought Corsair, also a car
rier borne fighter, with a record of
losses that Is surprisingly small. It is
stoutly armed and armored, and is
driven by oO-horsepower motor. A
modern torpedo bomber, the Grumman
Avenger, taking the place of the Douglas