Evening star., 1943-09-26

In the vivid phrase of Brig. Gen.
Edgar P. Sorenson, chief of Army Air
Staff Intelligence, "air power today is
possibly little more advanced than was
sea power at the time when the Phoeni-
clan traders began arming their galleys
for use in raiding other shores" The
colossal bomber of the future. in other
words, will surpass the Flying Fortress
as 50,0OO-ton dreadnaught towers above
the frail, ar-driven bark of 5000 years
ago.
The belief of professional enthusiasts
that military aviation is still in sWad-
ding clothes must be taken into account
In any attempt to reappraise the status
of air power, in the light of events since
Pearl Harbor, in the Pacific, Northwest
Africa, Sicily, Italy, Germany and Occu-
pied Europe. Whatever the case may be
in years to come, every strategic and in
duStrlal plan in the world on both sides
OF the conflict rests on presumption
that air power is incapable of winning
the present war single-handed.
This is despite dramatic uprush of
triumphs. astounding to friend and foe
alike, which in short time have COM
PEELED recognition of air power as per-
haps foremost among the decisive ele-
ments of modern battle, on land as we'll
as sea.
crushing air supremacy in Tunis
forced the surrender Of crack German
army. though morale continued high
and food and ammunition were album
Cant. At a cost of 13 lives. American
planes in the Bismarck Sea DESTROYED
every ship of a Japanese fleet of % yes-
sells, which carried $4,000 men to the
bottom. Flung profusely into the bal
ance, aviation turned the scales at Sal
erno and rescued the British American
9th Army from the tragedy of a second
Dieppe. ~..
Need Command of Air,
1t has come to be regarded as an axiom
that no ground or naval victory is DOS
slole without command of the air. Pro-
gresslVe occupation of air bases Is
frankly acknowledged to be the leading
motive of land and sea advances in the
South Pacific, and of the assault upon
ltaly's mainland. Since the Battle of
Midway, in which the hostile surface
squadrons were never less than 100 miles
apart, and IN which American aviation
met and repulsed, unaided, Japans most
per1lous invasion threat of the war, even
brass hat" admirals have confessed
that the center of gravity has removed
from the battleship to the aircraft car
rier
What the Navy Department considers
one OF its most significant disclosures
since Pearl Harbor was a release of Sep
TEMPER 7, stating that out of 20 German
submarines positively known to have
been destroyed by United States Army
and Navy forces during last May, June
and July, only two were sunk by surface
vessels, while q were dispatched by air.
craft. These were partly long-range
bombers and partly fighters and torpedo
planes carried by baby f1at-tops' which
are now serving as escorts for supply and
troop conveys
The current repulse of submarine as
saults is ascribed- by Navy spokesmen
not to radar developments or new "se-
cret" weapons and detectors, but to a
change of tactics in aviation. A gap of
500 miles in the middle of the North
Atlantic which land-based planes could
not reach was closed by merchant vessels
converted into carriers. Incessant patrols
by their planes compelled U-boats in the
area to remain submerged, and thus dis
armed the wolf packs of their principal
weapon against conveys, which was su-
perior surface speed
The lull OF four months described by
Prime Minister Churchill during which
not single Allied merchant vessel was
lost IN the North Atlantic through enemy
!: action, Is imputed by naval authorities