22

FLIGHT

was always a weapon in a different class, and was obviously designed mainly for aggressive purposes.
The Germans used their single-engined Messerschmitts
for an offensive purpose when they sent them as escorts
to their day-bombers in the Battle of Britain, but in
that case the bombers were intended to be the major
weapons, the fighters acting merely as ancillaries. The
daylight sweeps by the K.A.F. over Northern France
have been different in character, for in them the fighters
played the chief part. Sometimes they acted alone; at
other times they were accompanied by comparative]}'
small forces of bombers. The object always was to
compel the Germans to withdraw their experienced
fighters from the Russian front and so give definitely
useful help to our 'Ally. In this our object was fully
attained, for it has been calculated that before the end
of the year about 50 per cent, of the fighter strength of
the Luftwaffe had been concentrated in France. There
were days when the British losses exceeded those of the
enemy,- but it is the total which matters. During the
period of the most intense aggression by Fighter Commandthat is to say, from the middle of June to the
end i f August500 enemy aircraft were shot down by
lers in our sweeps for a loss of only 250 of our
machines. These figures tell a very different story
the profit and loss account of the German
ssion in the Battle of Britain, when the attackers
the heaviest losses.
'Our offensive has not been
ily expensive.

JANUARY 8 T H ,

1942

Unily of Command

N 1918 Marshal Foch was appointed Generalissimo

of all the land and air forces in France and Belgium after forrr years of divided command. In 1939
Lord Gort's B . E . F . was placed under the command of
General Gamelin. Both these earlier attempts at unity
of command have been overshadowed by the comprehensive step taken at Washington, which puts General
Wavell in supreme command of all forcessea, land
and airin the South-west Pacific. We believe that no
step like this has ever been taken before. That a General
Officer should command all the air forces in his area
is, we believe, only common sense, but that he should
have general control over naval forces too, in what is
mainly a naval campaign, is unprecedented.
Another
anomaly, as some people will doubtless think it, is that
the British naval forces in this area are to work under
the orders of the American Admiral. The air interest
in this unusual organisation is represented by an
American Army officer as General Wavell's deputy
which shows that it is sometimes convenient to have an
air arm in an army.
Hitherto the Japanese forces have been under a single
direction, while the Allies have groped, so to speak,
under separate British, American and Dutch Generals
and Admirals. Now one master mind will control the
whole strategy. This is the firstfruits of the Washington
Conference.

THE BITER BIT : A Ju 87 dive-bomber, flown by an Italian pilot, which turned over on having to make a forced landing in our
lines on the Western Desert. The main bomb is still in the ejector cradle which, at the moment of release, lowers the bomb to a
point from which it can fall without hitting the airscrew. The manner in which the airscrew blades have broken shows the
enormous strength developed by laminated wood.