Evening star., 1943-10-16
Maj. de Sepersky's column tDtll
appear on Mondays, Wednes-
days and Fridays hereafter.
BY MAI. ALEXANDER p. DE
SEVERSKY,

| DE LRSA1s
Our fastest and most heavily
armed fighter aircraft Of the single
scatter type now in combat, the PAT
or Thunderbolt, is helping settle the
much-argued question of convoy
fighters. Its successful activity over
German targets, In support of day.
light raids by the 9th Air Force
would seem to confirm the claim OF
those airmen who long have insisted
that fighters should be equipped
with the necessary range, armor and
fire power to accompany heavy
bombers.
For the past five months the
Thunderbolt has been conveying
some of our Flying Fortress expedi-
tionS over Europe. It's most ex-
tended operation was carried out re-
Gently when Thunderbolts escort
ed our bombers to Frankfurt
Main, round trip of $50 all
miles from their English bases. In
that action they Cancelled out 10 OF
Hitler's fighter planes.
In view of the ever greater con-
centration of German defensive
aviation over Germany proper, and
the improved performance of that
aviation, this achievement by con-
voy Of our own fighters is big news
1t certainly should stimulate Allied
military thinking in the direction
of larger, longer-ranged and more
effective fighters for strategic pur-
poses.
Fighters Now Have Range.
The PAT, manufactured by Re-
public Aviation formerly Seversky
Aircraft CorpD is the production
version of the prototype AP-4 which
I designed and built as far back as
1898. At the time of its birth, all
fighter planes were regarded simply
as tactical weapons, auxiliaries to
the ground forces. Their purpose
was to help and protect the man
with the bayonet in battle.
The idea Of giving these airplanes
range enabling them to penetrate
the interior of the enemy territory
beyond the range of the rifle seemed
purposeless to the directing heads at
that time. Accordingly, the COM
pany'S proposals for building longer
range into the AP-4 and into its
predecessor, the Seversky P-35. were
rejected with the official statement
that "the price quoted for this
change exceeds the potential value
to the Air Corps"
The convoy service now being done
by the Thunderbolt therefore means
that at long last this plane has
broken through the restraints of its
tactical role to do the strategic job
for which its prototype was original
ly planned. And now that convoy
protection has been demonstrated as
necessary and feasible, it should en-
courage development of fighters es-
pecially designed for this purpose.
Changes Suggested.
AS convoy fighter, however, the
present Thunderbolt is makeshift
An effective convoy fighter, for in
stance, should be able to fire not
only forward but rearward, so that
its design does not necessarily have
to be confined to the single-engined
single-seater type.
Even five years ago, in expert
ments during the 1888 Army Air
Corps maneuvers in Tampa, Fla, in
which participated, it became clear
that multiengined, multiplaced
fighters might better serve the pur-
pose. Besides, the Thunderbolts
armament, consisting of eight So
caliber OPT mm) machine guns is
rapidly becoming obsolete.
Since 1941, in addition to ma
chine guns, cannon have been
standard equipment on the latest
Spitflres and Hurricanes; they have
also been installed on the new Mes
serschmitts and Japanese Zeros
The newest models appearing in
combat today show a tendency to
discard machine guns and use ex-
clusively two or more 20 and 40 nm
cannon. This new armament not
only outranges our 50-caliber ma
chine guns, but what is more impor-
tant, its explosive shell damages the
structure, causing its collapse.
The British had the proper vision
OF true convoy fighter even before