The Wilmington morning star., 1944-03-08
Toward Air Supremacy

A clearer perspective O1 tllC Woi-oAAS "AA@~AA
holds out high hopes for the future, but also
reveals by how narrow margin the Allies
may have escaped catastrophe-ls provided
by two reports just published. One is the
review presented to the House of Commons
by Air Minister Sinclair in which he declares:
There lies before us now clearly attainahle
the glittering prize of air supremacy-a tails
man that can paralyze German war industry
and war transport This is a confident,
sweeping and authoritative statement, all the
more impressive because it is based on actual
battle results
It has become a military axiom that while
the airplane alone can no more win wars
than can any other single weapon, neverthe-
less, supremacy in the air is the first condi-
ton Of victory, and especially of victory
which depends on the success of amphibious
operations Of unprecedented dimensions. The
course of the war has shown that victory in
Europe is impossible without mass invasion
from the west, and the lessons OF Sicily and
Italy have demonstrated that such an inva-
sion, which must be staged from Britain
across the English Channel, is likewise i'm
possible without complete domination Of the
skies. At best, the invasion will involve the
greatest risks ever faced by any army; it
would be foolhardy to undertake it before
decisive victory is won in the air. But until
recently the possibility of such an air victory
was in itself a matter of grave doubt. In
1910 Hitler possessed air superiority as the
Allies do today; yet the British air force was
able to maintain such striking power reserves
that Hitler did not dare stage his own cross
channel invasion of Britain and instead turned
east against Russia.
Now, however, Air Minister Sinclair assures
hat WIT nj, Allied oil c11poriority h11t
Allied air supremacy is in sight His state
ment that the period between the February
and the March moons is likely to prove the
decisive stage of the whole war demonstrates
his confidence that the air victory is close
at hand. That may turn out to be the opti-
mism of the specialist, but Sir Archibald is
able to back up his optimism with greater
display of airpower than was thought possible
only short while ago. He is able to back
it up with round-the-clock air attacks by thou
sands of American and British planes on both
the German air force and the factories which
produce its planes. He is able to back it up
with the diminishing power Of the German
air force to interfere with these assaults; in
fact some of the Allied air armadas now
roam the German skies without catching a
glimpse of a German plane. He is able to
back it up, finally with the diminishing rate
of Allied losses, trend which is bound to
improve DIS Lie GERMAN air IOrCe
weakens. The path for the invasion, and
herewith the road to Berlin, is indeed being
cleared, even if this phase should take longer
than Sir Archibald anticipates
The second report is that Of Mr.. Crowley
on lend-lease shipments to Russia. This is
interpreted in Washington to mean that both
the United States and Great Britain stripped
their own forces in the beginning to provide
the hard-pressed Russian armies with that
additional equipment that spelled the differ
ence between victory and defeat These ship
ments, which now exceed 81, ,000, 900 in val
ue and include $4,000 planes, 4,7O0 tanks and
tank destroyers, more than 10000 trucks, 49,
600 jeeps and many other items, in addition
to the huge supplies shipped to Russia by
Great Britain, may have delayed both the
training and the equipment of the American
and British armies, and herewith also the
Allied preparation for the present air battle
and the invasion But they helped to keep
Russia in the war, and in so doing not only
helped to save the Red armies for the final
battle but also prevented a junction of the
German and Japanese forces and decisive
shift of the balance of power in favor of the
Axis-New York Times.