BWAF-2

BRITAIN’S
WONDERFUL
AIR FORCE

Part 2

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 5. WORK OF THE BOMBER CREWS

CHAPTER 6. FIGHTER AIRCRAFT OF THE R.A.F.

CHAPTER 7. FIGHTER PILOTS AND FIGHTER TACTICS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Where the bombs are carried

Bomb cells of a Wellington

Ammunition for the rear gunner

Flying crews arrive at the dispersal points

Nerve centre of Bomber Command

Halifax crew go aboard

Selecting the bombs

Dropping a parachute flare

The navigator plots his course

The bomb aimer takes aim

Wireless operator and flight engineer

Aerodrome control post

Aerodrome control room

On the control tower

Intelligence Officer interrogates the crew

Escort and high-guard squadrons

Start of a day bombing raid

Raids by medium bombers

A direct hit is scored

The weapons of Fighter Command

Spitfire, king of single-seater fighters

Tricycle undercarriage of a Havoc

Twelve-gun Hurricane

Ranges of cannon and machine guns

British, German and Italian machine guns

Re-loading a Hurricane fighter

Loading and testing 20-mm. cannon

Testing Spitfire cannon

Variable-pitch airscrew

Contra-rotating airscrews

Cockpit of a Spitfire

Gloster Gladiator fighter

Hawker Hurricane Mk I

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc

Vickers-Armstrong Supermarine Spitfire Mk V

Constructional details of the Spitfire

German fighter aircraft

Germany’s famous Me. single-seat fighter

Italian fighter aircraft

Short-nose Blenheim

Bristol Beaufighter

Beaufighter details

Bolton Paul Defiant

Defiant details

De Havilland Mosquito

Hawker Typhoon

Performance data of British fighter aircraft

Night fighter pilots stand by

Miles Master advanced trainers

Instrument panel of Miles Master

North American Havard trainers

Rear seat of the Master

“Blackout” and “redout”

Flying in close formation

Formations adopted by fighter aircraft

Hurricanes in V-formation

On the lookout for the enemy

Sections in line astern

Weaving tactics of fighter aircraft

Equipment worn by a fighter pilot

Rubber dinghy for fighter pilots

Target for practice shooting

How a pilot bales out

Oxygen equipment in a modern fighter

Attacks on enemy bombers

Aiming at the enemy

How the fighter pilot sees his foe

Cannon Hurricane in action

Tactics of the Hurri-Bomber

Close-up of the Hurricane bomber

Preparing for an offensive sweep

A Beaufighter goes on patrol

End of a Heinkel III

A fighter pilot makes his report

Attacks on enemy transport

CHAPTER 5

Work of the Bomber Crews

Operational Training Units. A typical night raid. Bombing up. The brieﬁng. The take-off. The journey to the objective. Pin-pointing the position. Approaching and identifying the target. Releasing the bombs. The journey home. A night ﬁghter attack. A safe landing. The interrogation of crews. Day bombing operations. The “Circus” operation

IN the previous chapter we have seen something of the complicated lay-out of a modern bomber and the tasks which have to be performed by the air crew. The object of this chapter is to sketch a brief outline of the various stages in the development of their training as a crew and to give a description of one or two typical bombing operations.

OPERATIONAL TRAINING UNIT

When the individual members of a crew meet each other for the ﬁrst time at an Operational Training Unit, each of them has learnt his own trade at the appropriate school, but has had no training in the team work and crew drill which are fundamental to the efficient operation of a bomber aircraft, nor have they any experience of a service type of bomber. Their training up to now has been carried out on smaller types of training aircraft, and the pilots must therefore undergo what is called a conversion course to learn to ﬂy the type of bomber which they are destined to use in active operations. The remainder of the crew will also be learning to apply their knowledge to the special problems of the service type of aircraft. When the crew are proﬁcient by day they must then start work by night. Everything is much more difficult at night, for not only have they to learn to ﬂy under blackout conditions, but they must learn how to work their complicated instruments in the dark, or with very little light to help them. The most that can be permitted will be a few screened lights, for the night bomber, if it is to escape interception by the enemy night ﬁghter, must be blacked out.

At the completion of the course at the Operational Training Units the crew will be ﬁt to begin their operational career, and they are posted as a crew to a service squadron using the type of aircraft on which they have trained. When they reach the squadron they are known as freshmen and a further short period of advanced training is in front of them before they can be regarded as fully ﬁt for active bombing operations against the enemy.

THE “NURSERY SLOPES”

After a day or two in which to settle at their new station the crew will be put through their paces by the ﬂight commander, ﬁrst of all in daylight and then at night. They will be sent to the local bombing range and the results of their bombing checked up. If they perform satisfactorily they will be detailed to attack a short-range objective in enemy country. This is known as “going on the nursery slopes.” If they carry out this task satisfactorily they will be sent to objectives progressively further away until they are able to ﬂy to the full radius of action of their aircraft, ﬁnd and bomb the target and return to their base. They can now regard themselves as fully ﬂedged.

Let us now go to a night bomber station and see how a night bombing raid is organized. We will imagine a pleasant day in the late spring. The sky is clear except for a small amount of very high cloud and a mild southerly wind is blowing. If we are to see everything we must arrive at the station not later than mid-day, for by that time the targets for the night will have been ordered and the preparation begins.

THE STIRLING’S LOAD ARRIVES

Fig. 1. Preparations for a night’s raid begins about mid-day, when tractors pull trains of bomb-loading vehicles to the dispersal points on the airﬁeld. These low-wheeled vehicles carry the ready fused bombs. The full load of a Stirling aircraft is 8 tons

DISPERSAL POINTS

The aircraft are standing at their dispersal points all round the aerodrome. Those that are detailed for duty tonight have already had their air tests and have been handed over to the maintenance crews for a ﬁnal inspection. As we walk over to a dispersal point we can see a tractor pulling a long train of curious low vehicles, making its way towards one of the aeroplanes (Fig. 1). The long low vehicles are trailers carrying the fused bombs from the bomb store to be loaded on to the aircraft. If we hurry we shall be in time to watch this being done.

The bomber is standing on a piece of tarmac close to the edge of a wood about a quarter of a mile from the aerodrome. The aircraft carries the bombs internally in cells (Figs. 2 and 2a), the doors of which are opened and closed by a hydraulic ram. As we approach we see the bomb cell doors slowly opening. One of the bomb trailers is manoeuvred underneath the cell and the bomb is lifted by a hand operated winch until the lug on the bomb engages with the hook of the bomb carrier, which is then snapped shut (Fig. 3). The crutches are then adjusted so as to steady the bomb and prevent it wobbling or vibrating when in the air, and the fusing link connected up. This is a device which enables the bomb aimer to make the fuse of the bomb “live” before it is dropped. If this is not done, the bomb is dropped “safe” with very little chance of its exploding.

BOMB-CARRYING CAPACITY OF FIVE WELL-KNOWN BRITISH BOMBERS

Fig. 2. British bomber aircraft carry their bombs internally in cells, the doors of which are opened by a hydraulic ram. The diagram gives particulars of bomb load and storage of ﬁve types of modern British bombers. The load of the Stirling, although not officially announced, is said to be equal to that of three Wellingtons. Inset, particulars of bomb release gear of a Wellington. The bomb load of an aircraft naturally varies according to circumstances. On a very long ﬂight with a heavy load of fuel, for instance, fewer bombs would be carried than on a comparatively short ﬂight. If the tanks were ﬁlled to capacity and bombs were on all the racks the aircraft would be so overloaded that it would be unable to take off

WHERE THE BOMBS ARE CARRIED

Fig. 2a. On the Short Stirling, seen above, the bombs are carried in three long bays running almost the whole length of the fuselage. They are hoisted into position by a winch

Some modern British bombs weigh as much as 4,000 lb. and 8,000 lb. For most general purposes, however, the 500 lb. and 1,000 lb. are the ones usually carried and one after another they are lifted carefully up and hooked into the bays and the necessary adjustments made. Then come two large rectangular metal boxes, which are a tight ﬁt in the bomb cell and which are drawn up and slung on to the bomb carrier in exactly the same way as the bomb. These are containers, each holding a large number of small incendiary bombs. The bombs are prevented from falling out of the box by a number of cross-bars. When the lock is released the cross-bars fall away and the incendiary bombs descend and disperse in a shower.

A motor-driven fuel tanker now approaches to ﬁll up the tanks and a large hose is connected to the ﬁller cap of the fuel tank in the bomber. Electrical connections are carefully made at each end of the hose so as to avoid the risk of any sparking due to static electricity generated in the hose by friction when the fuel passes through it under pressure.

FILLING THE TANKS

The motor-driven pump is now set in motion and in a surprisingly short time the aircraft’s tanks are quite full. In the meantime, other airmen are busy testing the electrical accumulators and the oxygen bottles to see that they are fully charged, while the armourers are looking over the hydraulic mechanism of the turrets and ﬁlling the ammunition tanks with long snake-like belts of machine gun ammunition (Fig. 4). Another man is busy polishing the pilot’s windscreen, the astrodome and perspex canopies over the turrets, for these should be clean.

The aircraft’s maintenance crew are still busy inspecting everything, testing the tyre pressures, checking the working of instruments and greasing and oiling, for nothing must be left to chance. The correct working of the engines and the wireless will have been ascertained during an air test earlier in the day.

It is now two o’clock and it is time to go to the Operations Centre to listen to the “brieﬁng” of the crews. Between sixty and seventy men, ofﬁcers and sergeants, are seated in a large room while from a raised desk the squadron commander is explaining the plan of tonight’s operations. First of all he tells them the target which they are going to attack; he explains the reasons for its importance and gives them his general ideas of the way in which the attack should be made, taking into consideration the weather conditions expected over the target and the disposition of the enemy’s defences, information concerning which has been gleaned from crews who have been there before. He then gives them such other advice as is prompted by his experience. When he has ﬁnished he asks the air crews if everything is quite clear in their minds and if not, invites them to ask him any questions they wish. When the questions come, they are always answered in a straightforward and businesslike way.

WEATHER REPORT

The meteorological officer then goes on to explain the weather forecast in detail. The met. ofﬁcer, as he is always called, gives a forecast of the weather en route and in the target area, and says that there is some risk of the aerodrome going out of action owing to fog after midnight. He explains that, if that should occur, aircraft will be diverted to another aerodrome forty miles away, which is expected to remain clear. Once again questions are invited and answered. Next the intelligence oﬁicer gives the latest information about enemy defences. He warns the crews against approaching the target from the north, where searchlights and guns are known to be concentrated.

When the last question has been answered, the squadron commander gives the crews his ﬁnal admonitions. “Some of you,” he says, “occasionally forget, in the stress of the moment, to use your night cameras. I must impress on you again how important it is that we should have photographs recording the fall of your bombs. Don’t be afraid of letting it be known that your bombs have not hit the target—we all make mistakes and the fact that you know where your bombs have gone will help you to do better next time. Now go and get your tea. You know your time of take off. Good luck to you all!”

The captains and crews dismiss, and the officers and sergeants go off to their messes to get their tea, and make their ﬁnal preparations for the night’s work. The navigators will have already laid off their courses on their maps and studied the route for prominent landmarks.

BOMB CELLS OF A WELLINGTON

Fig. 3. The trailers are manoeuvred beneath the bomb cells and the bombs are lifted by a hand operated winch until the lug on the bomb engages with the hook on the bomb carrier, which is snapped shut. Crutches are then adjusted so as to hold the bombs rigid, and the fusing link is connected. If this were not done the bombs would be dropped “safe,” and fail to explode

AMMUNITION FOR THE REAR GUNNER

Fig. 4. While the bombs are being loaded, members of the aircraft’s maintenance crew are busy ﬁlling the tanks, ﬁtting and testing oxygen bottles and making other last-minute adjustments. Meanwhile the armourers are looking over the hydraulic mechanism of the turrets and ﬁlling the ammunition tanks with long, snake-like belts of machine gun bullets

DAYLIGHT IS FADING AS THE FLYING CREWS BEGIN TO ARRIVE AT THE DISPERSAL POINTS

Just before the appointed time for the take-off the air crews begin to arrive at the dispersal points. The aircraft stand silent, silhouetted against the darkening sky. The silence of the aerodrome is suddenly shattered as the engines spring one by one into life, and the roar increases as they are given a ﬁnal test to make certain that they are giving their full power

Daylight is fading as the ﬂying crews put on the remainder of their ﬂying clothing and begin to arrive at the dispersal points. The aircraft are now completely ready and preparations are being made to start the engines. The evening silence is broken as all round the aerodrome engines burst into life and soon the air is ﬁlled with their subdued rumbling as they are warmed up. Twelve aircraft are due to go off tonight, taking off at two-minute intervals, commencing at 6 o’clock. In these days of concentrated raids on given targets, with aircraft unloading their bombs to a deﬁnite time schedule and the whole of an attack by as many as 500 machines being carried out in the space of less than an hour, punctuality in leaving is absolutely insisted upon and the departure of each aircraft is usually carried out almost to the second. The air crews scramble aboard with their baskets containing thermos ﬂasks with hot drinks, chocolate and other condensed and nutritious foods. The roar increases as the engines are tested on the ground.

Let us now leave the dispersal point and go to the control tower in order to watch the take-off. At the appropriate time permission is given from the control tower for the ﬁrst aircraft to leave. In the gathering dusk we can see it creeping slowly round the edge of the aerodrome to the down wind end. The ﬂares which mark out the take-off run have been lit, and can be seen faintly, two parallel rows of seven or eight lights covering several hundreds of yards in length. These lights are screened from above to prevent enemy aircraft from spotting the landing ground. The ﬁrst aircraft is now waiting to take off with its engines slowly ticking over, while the captain calls up his crew in turn on the intercommunication telephone and assures himself that each is at his post and has carried out his share of the duties which must be performed before the aircraft is ready to take off.

It now wants a few seconds to 6 o’clock and exactly at the right moment the full deep roar of the engines is heard and the aircraft begins to run with gathering speed across the aerodrome. In its fully loaded condition it has run several hundred yards and is travelling at more than 100 miles per hour by the time the wheels leave the ground. As soon as it has lifted a few feet the retractable undercarriage begins slowly to disappear into the fuselage, and the aeroplane climbs rsteadily into the night sky.

AIRCRAFT AWAY

While we were watching it, the second aeroplane has already taken its place and is waiting its turn to take off. At precisely two minutes past six the process is repeated and so it goes on until all twelve aircraft are off the ground exactly to time.

NERVE CENTRE OF BOMBER COMMAND

The underground Operations Room at Bomber Command headquarters is shown above. Here the Commander-in-Chief (at desk in foreground) and his staff plan the operations for the night. Huge maps, charts and photographs giving particulars of enemy objectives are hung on the walls. This photograph is reproduced from the ﬁlm “Target for Tonight”

We will now go into the operations room to see how the progress of the raid is controlled and recorded. Here all is quiet, and shaded lights illuminate large boards on the walls on which airmen are busy chalking the numbers of the aircraft that have just taken off and the time of their departure. Opposite each number is written the time at which it is expected to return home. If orders should come through to recall the aircraft or to change the objective, or if it should be necessary to divert the returning bombers to some other aerodrome, either on account of weather or enemy action, the appropriate message can be passed to the aircraft by wireless. The operations officer on duty sits at a desk with his telephones and shaded light making entries in the log.

HALIFAX CREW GO ABOARD

This Halifax crew are ready and eager to enter their aircraft and take up their allotted positions inside it. It may be as long as nine hours before they will set foot on terra ﬁrma again

Meanwhile, the captain of the leading aircraft has checked up on everything and has satisﬁed himself that all is well. He is climbing steadily on the course given to him by the navigator and very soon the English coastline is reached. Behind him is the sepia-coloured landscape, while in front is the dark-grey North Sea which stretches away towards the distant horizon. From a height of 5,000 feet it looks just about as ﬂat as a billiard table. Soon after crossing the coast the captain decides to alter his course in order to avoid ﬂying over one of our shipping convoys.

OVER THE NORTH SEA

Nothing is now visible but a wide monotonous expanse of sea. The moon is not yet up and it will be a dark night. After a few more minutes the aircraft ﬂies through a short stretch of cloud, during which it is necessary for the captain to ﬂy by instruments alone. A small amount of ice forms on the leading edges as the aircraft climbs into the clear air above. By the time the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, the cloud has been left behind and a few dim points of light indicating the Dutch coast can be seen ahead. The aircraft is still climbing steadily and has reached 14,000 feet by the time the coast is crossed. Some miles to the south a great cone of searchlights has appeared; twenty or more beams of light converging at a height of some 15,000 feet. No aircraft can be seen illuminated by the lights, but near the point of intersection are the vivid orange ﬂashes of bursting shells.

The captain now adopts the policy of altering course a few degrees every half minute or so. Several beams of light are now searching the sky in his direction. They come closer, hesitate and move away again and then, as though in despair of ﬁnding anything, suddenly dowse, giving the appearance of added darkness to the surrounding sky. The captain ﬂies on occasionally exchanging a word through the intercommunication telephone with other members of the crew. He asks the air observer to tell him again the estimated time of arrival over the target. He glances at the clock on the dashboard and sees that he has 50 minutes more to go. He calls up the gunner in the tail turret and asks him if all is well. The gunner has seen no other aircraft come near. A few miles ahead is an extensive patch of cloud and the captain sees that if he maintains his present course and height he will pass over it with a couple of thousand feet to spare. Once again the waving ﬁngers of searchlights come close and the captain alters course sharply to port to avoid a beam in his direction.

The target for tonight is a large factory in an industrial town in the Ruhr and the navigator wishes to check his position on crossing the Rhine. He had laid off his course to cross the river where there is a very distinctive bend, at which he hopes to pin-point his position and set a new course for the objective, which will be only twenty-ﬁve miles away. As the time approaches when they should be getting near the river, the captain peers through the windscreen in an endeavour to pick it up, while the bomb aimer gazes through his window with the same object.

ON THE COURSE

At the same moment they both see the gleam of starlight on water and the captain turns the aircraft slightly so as to bring the river more clearly into view, while at the same time the navigator searches for some other distinctive feature which will make him doubly sure of his position. Soon he sees what he wants and reports to the captain. “O.K.,” he says. “Course ninety-ﬁve degrees for 15 minutes.” The captain acknowledges, and turns the aircraft gently until it has taken up the new course. Many other aircraft will also be attacking the same target tonight, but he took off early and not many will be ahead of him. Nevertheless, there are signs that some aircraft have already arrived. Several cones of searchlights can be seen and many shell bursts are studding the sky, while on the ground a few dull glows, which are probably the early stages of ﬁres caused by incendiary bombs, can be seen.

SELECTING THE BOMBS

Fig. 5. When close to the target the bomb aimer selects his bombs by means of switches on the bomb-selector panel, seen above. He then opens the bomb doors and settles down to the task of picking out the target

The bomb aimer now operates switches that select and fuse the bombs (Fig. 5), checks the settings on his bomb sight, and ﬁnally opens the bomb-cell doors. He then gives the whole of his attention to the task of picking up the actual target. Two miles to the north of it is a small lake of distinctive shape, while along its southern edge runs the River Ruhr itself. He is giving the captain frequent changes of course which he indicates by an apparatus resembling a small version of a ship’s engine-room telegraph.

The man behind the bomb sight strains his eyes into the darkness and momentarily sees the gleam of water. He signals to his captain to alter course to bring it dead ahead but now he can see nothing. Then again he spots the glint of the water reﬂecting the light from the beam of a searchlight. He sees that it is indeed the lake for which he has been looking. He alters course still further to starboard to bring the estimated position of the target dead ahead and then strains his eyes once more to ﬁnd the River Ruhr and the acres of workshops which are his objective.

DROPPING A PARACHUTE FLARE

Fig. 6. In order to light up the target area the bomb aimer, seen above, drops a powerful parachute ﬂare. This burns for several minutes and gives a brilliant light equal to several hundred thousand candle power

In order to help in this, each bomber carries a number of powerful parachute ﬂares which can be released by the bomb aimer (Fig. 6). When one is dropped, it falls for a pre-arranged time, after which the parachute opens and checks its descent. At the same moment the ﬂare begins to burn with a light equal to several hundred thousand candle power. When a number of bombers are attacking the same target, there will probably be several ﬂares, dropped by different aircraft, burning at the same time and in clear weather conditions the ground will be sufficiently well illuminated to enable the bomb aimers to pick up the target.

DROPPING THE FLARES

The observer releases his ﬂare and peers into the darkness. After about a quarter of a minute it starts to burn and almost at the same time another ﬂare dropped by another bomber lights up in the sky ahead of him. By the combined light of the two ﬂares he searches the ground for the target. He is almost certain that it is straight ahead and just as he is beginning to make out the cluster of buildings and the tall chimneys, the whole cockpit is lit up by a brilliant ﬂood or light, completely dazzling him and forcing the pilot to ﬂy entirely by instruments. A large group of searchlights, controlled by a complicated electrical system, has suddenly, without warning, switched on and, aided by fortune, illuminated the bomber at the ﬁrst attempt.

The captain shuts off the engines, banks violently and turns sharply to port, dropping the nose and letting the speed rise in an effort to escape. He watches the needle of the air-speed indicator creep round the dial until it registers more than 300 miles an hour. The bomb-cell doors are closed. The glare of the light is dimmer now, and as the captain pulls up the nose of the aircraft he realizes that he has escaped.

It is not always so easy to escape the persistent cones of the searchlights. Not long ago when over the same district, the captain had to take violent evasive action and lose height down to 6,000 feet before he could elude their dazzling glare. As he turns to starboard to return to the target, anti-aircraft shells begin to burst all round the aircraft. They give a vivid orange ﬂash. The captain half throttles the engines, and loses height slightly, as he thinks that in this way he will have a better chance of approaching the target without being picked up again by the searchlights.

Meanwhile, the observer has managed to ﬁx the position of the aircraft by recognizing a landmark and once more gives the pilot the correct course to steer. He resets the bomb sight and settles down with straining eyes to pick up his objective. Once more, he releases a parachute ﬂare, and by its light, he sees the target right ahead of him.

This time there is no mistake. He identifies it quite clearly, and, waiting for the right moment, alters the course of the aircraft slightly to bring the target in line with the end of the drift bar of the bomb sight. As the aircraft ﬂies towards it, the target apparently moves along the drift bar and when it gets to a point where a cross wire intersects it, the observer will press the button which functions the electric bomb-releasing gear.

OVER THE TARGET

On the last run up the target the ground defences redouble their efforts and shells burst very close. The captain sets his teeth and keeps on a steady course, while the observer coolly waits for the few seconds that must elapse before the moment comes for him to release the bombs. At last the target reaches the cross wire. He presses the button. The bombs fall off in quick succession, and a moment later he sets the automatic night camera in action. “Bombs away,” he shouts through the telephone to the captain, “but hold on to the course for a bit if you can, as I have switched on the camera.”

A few seconds later the bombs explode far below and the ﬂash bomb of the night camera goes off, looking for all the world like lightning. As soon as he sees the ﬂash the captain knows that the photograph has been taken, and, opening up the engines to full throttle, he turns the aircraft for home, still pursued by bursting shells. Two other cones of searchlights have sprung into existence within the last few seconds, illuminating other bombers arriving in the target area. The captain puts the nose down slightly and watches the air-speed indicator rise steadily. There is no object in loitering in the vicinity of the target once the bombs have gone.

COURSE FOR HOME

The air observer has closed the bomb-cell doors and, as the bomb-aiming part of his job is now over, he returns to the navigator’s table and gives the pilot the course to steer for home. This will not necessarily follow the shortest way, as bombers frequently route themselves so as to avoid known concentrations of searchlights, A.A. batteries and areas popular with enemy night ﬁghters. The tail gunner reports that he can see large ﬁres burning in the target area and the sky over the target is fairly plastered with bursting A.A. shells. In a few minutes the aircraft is ﬂying over the layer of cloud, this time just skimming over the top of it.

THE NAVIGATOR PLOTS HIS COURSE

At his station in a Stirling bomber the navigator is busy calculating his course. Upon this very important member of the air crew the success of the bombing raid may depend. An error in course may waste the work of the rest of the crew together with fuel and bombs

THE BOMB AIMER TAKES AIM

In addition to his other duties the navigator also aims and releases the bombs and sets the automatic night camera in action. In his right hand he holds the bomb-release switch which operates the delicate mechanism that sends the bombs speeding on their deadly mission

WIRELESS OPERATOR AND FLIGHT ENGINEER

Two important members of a bomber’s crew are seen above at their stations inside the fuselage of a Short Stirling four-engined bomber. On the left the ﬂight engineer is watching the telltale gauges that tell him how the engines are behaving; on his right is the wireless operator—Sparks, as he is known—who is the only link between the aircraft and the outside world

The crew have been in the air now for some four hours and they are all beginning to feel the effects of cold. Thermos ﬂasks are opened, and every one has a hot drink; the captain leaves the pilot’s seat, handing over the controls to the second pilot, and takes up his station near the air observer and surveys his surroundings through the astrodome. He asks the air observer to let him know the expected time of arrival over the English coast, but before he can get a reply the tail gunner reports that an aircraft, which he thinks is an enemy ﬁghter, is approaching from the starboard quarter.

ATTACK BY NIGHT FIGHTERS

The captain immediately warns all the crew to stand by for an attack and tells the second pilot to turn to port to bring the ﬁghter well within the ﬁeld of ﬁre of the tail gunner. He strains his eyes, peering through the astrodome and after a few moments can plainly see a twin-engine ﬁghter, behind and below him, faintly silhouetted against the cloud. The captain considers whether he will remain in clear air and trust to shooting back if the ﬁghter attacks him, or risk going into the cloud, in which he will probably meet bad icing conditions, but before he has made up his mind the ﬁghter has turned sharply away and disappeared.

The captain knows by experience that German ﬁghters often behave in this way. They come and look at you and go away, but, like sharks, they generally return. He therefore warns the tail gunner to keep an especially careful watch and returns to his conversation with the air observer. The expected time of arrival at his base is a few minutes before midnight. The captain is anxious not to be late owing to the risk of fog forming after midnight. When he looks again out of the astrodome he sees that they have left the cloud bank behind and are near the Dutch coast. The tail gunner reports that the enemy ﬁghter has reappeared and is approaching rapidly from astern and slightly below. The captain orders him to hold his ﬁre until the ﬁghter is within effective range. The tail gunner operates his turret and, allowing for deﬂection, gets his sights fair and square on the enemy ﬁghter, while his ﬁnger squeezes the trigger as he waits for the moment to ﬁre off his ammunition.

All of a sudden there is a vivid stab of ﬂame from the nose of the ﬁghter and the crew hears the rattle of bullets striking the tail plane and lower part of the fuselage. This is at once followed by a roar of machine gun ﬁre from the powerful battery in the bomber’s tail. The captain watches the ﬁght from his post of vantage at the astrodome. The ﬁghter turns slightly and goes past at high speed on the port side. The captain warns the front gunner that he will have a chance of a shot and a moment later hears the rattle of machine gun ﬁre from the front turret. In face of the bomber’s powerful guns the ﬁghter climbs and turns away, disappearing against the dark starry sky.

The captain calls up all the members of the crew on the telephone to see if any one is wounded and to ask for reports of damage. No one is hurt, though the wireless operator reports several hits on the armoured bulkhead which protects him from astern attack. The remaining damage appears to be superﬁcial; in a few moments all traces of excitement have passed and the crew return to the normal routine of their duties. The Dutch coast is now well behind them and it is time for the wireless operator to tune in to his home station. He will now obtain a ﬁx from the long-range D/F (direction-finding) stations and pass it to the navigator in order to assist him in checking the aircraft’s position.

UNFAMILIAR VIBRATION

The practised ear of the captain detects a slight change of note in the port engine, and he carries out in the pilot’s cockpit a check up on the instruments. Oil pressure and oil temperature seem all right, fuel pressure gauge, boost, everything seems to be normal, but the engine is running irregularly and a certain amount of vibration can now be felt. There can be little doubt that one of the enemy ﬁghter’s bullets has damaged something. It is impossible to see what, as the engine is away out on the wing and cannot be inspected during ﬂight. He can only hope that it will continue to run till they get home. The captain remains in the cockpit watching the instruments and listening to the note of the engine. As the vibration does not appear to get any worse and the engine is still giving nearly full power he concludes that with luck it will see them home. He glances at the clock and sees that they have another twenty-ﬁve minutes to go, and gazes through the pilot’s windscreen, watching for the ﬁrst sign of the English coastline. The aircraft is now steadily losing height and the coast is crossed at 5,000 feet. As he looks down on the ground the captain can see, faintly, patches of fog and mist.

AERODROME CONTROL POST

Fig. 7. A returning bomber receiving a signal by an Aldis lamp from the aerodrome control post giving it permission to land.

Inside the control room where officers, with a plan of the aerodrome lighting and runways before them, direct landing operations

ON THE CONTROL TOWER

Many hours have elapsed since the aircraft set out. They will soon be due back. The aerodrome, silent since their departure, begins to stir into life as preparations are made to bring the bombers safely to earth. On the control tower a group of officers strain their ears to catch the drone of the ﬁrst returning bomber. The question in all their minds is how many will return

The automatic pilot holds the aircraft on its steady course while the captain changes places with the second pilot and takes over the controls. In a few minutes the aircraft is circling round the dimly lit ﬂare path of the aerodrome. The height has now been reduced to 1,000 feet and the captain sees that although the visibility is not very good, the fog has not yet reached the landing ground. As he circles round he makes a signal asking for permission to land and an answering signal giving permission is received from the aerodrome control post (Fig. 7), though sometimes other bombers which arrived ﬁrst are still in the air and he has to await his turn, continuing to circle at a height which is given to him so that he and the other aircraft remain at different levels, much as though they are on different storeys of a house, and do not run the risk of collision.

On receipt of the signal the captain pulls the lever that lowers the undercarriage. He watches the tell-tale lights turn from red to green, which indicates that the undercarriage is fully extended and locked in position. The captain half closes th throttles and pushes the nose of the aeroplane down, lowers the ﬂaps and circles round, losing height. He judges it so that he reaches the down-wind side of the aerodrome at about 500 feet. He watches the ﬂare path and turns in towards it at the right moment, at such a height that he will slightly undershoot. He comes in steadily into wind at half throttle and at 50 feet up opens up the engines for few seconds to nearly full throttle to help him in. As he comes over the boundary light of the aerodrome he shuts off the engines and puts the nose down to the normal gliding angle. The aircraft approaches the ground at a steep angle and at the right moment the captain pulls back the elevator control and holds the aircraft just off the ground. It ﬂoats parallel with the surface of the aerodrome for a few seconds and then sinks lightly on to the ground. The captain now gently puts on the brakes and the speed gradually slows up until the aircraft comes to rest near the end of the ﬂare path.

The captain now taxies the aircraft off the ﬂare path and proceeds slowly to the dispersal point. On arrival, the air crew hand over the aircraft to the maintenance crew, giving them a brief report on its condition and performance.

INTELLIGENCE OFFICER INTERROGATES THE CREWS

Fig. 9. Immediately after landing, the captain taxies his bomber to the dispersal point where he hands it over to the maintenance crew. The air crew then proceed to the operations block where they are interrogated by an intelligence oﬂicer. He listens to the story they have to tell regarding the part they have taken in the raid, and questions them whenever necessary regarding the effect of their bombs, the amount of enemy interference and so on. The crew then go to their messes for a good meal before turning in for a well earned sleep

THE INTERROGATION

The crew now get into a light lorry, in which there are several other air crews whose aircraft have just landed, and drive about a mile to the operations block. On arrival they go to a large room in which are a number of tables, each with half a dozen chairs disposed round them. Several of these tables are already occupied by crews who are giving their stories to one of the intelligence officers, who sits at the head of the table. The crew help themselves to large enamel mugs, and ﬁll them with steaming hot cocoa from a large urn that ﬁzzles on another table in the middle of the room. They make their way to a vacant table and seat themselves. The atmosphere is warm and they take off much of their ﬂying clothing. Presently an intelligence ofﬁcer comes along to give them their “interrogation” (Fig. 9). He questions them whenever necessary but for the most part encourages them to tell their story in their own words. Gradually the sheet of paper in front of the intelligence officer becomes covered with his notes and after a ﬁnal question or two he releases the crew, who make way for the next one and go to their respective messes.

Here they have a meal which is usually taken at any time from 1 a.m. onwards and is a sort of combined supper and breakfast. Sausages and mash, or bacon and eggs (when they are obtainable) are very popular and as they eat they exchange reminiscences of the night’s work. One crew has done particularly well, for not only did they obtain direct hits on the target, but they claim to have shot down in ﬂames an enemy ﬁghter which was rash enough to attack them on their way home.

As it is still only half-past two in the morning, there are several hours of darkness in front of them. They can sleep for seven or eight hours, getting up in time for a late breakfast at ten or eleven o’clock. In high summer it is not so easy, as they may land after dawn and then have to try to sleep during daylight hours. Soon the mess is empty, and the lights are turned out.

START OF A DAY BOMBING RAID

By the time that the bomber crews reach their aircraft the engines have already been started up by the maintenance crews at the aerodrome and are ticking over quite smoothly. The crews scramble aboard, making all the necessary last-minute adjustments to their ﬂying clothing and kit. The engines are given a ﬁnal test at full throttle, after which the planes taxi out on to the airﬁeld and take up their stations on either side of the leader before taking off

Most bombing operations against enemy ships moving up and down the English Channel are carried out nowadays by ﬁghter-bombers, Hurricanes and Whirlwinds, while Coastal Command has the responsibility of looking after the German convoys farther aﬁeld off the Dutch and Norwegian coasts. Specialised bombing by day on targets as distant as Oslo and Berlin is undertaken by the exceedingly fast Mosquitoes. They go out in small force and rely on their speed and manoeuvrability to make their attack and return home safely, as they did on their now historic raid on Berlin when Goering was due to speak in celebration of Hitler’s tenth anniversary of coming to power.

MEDIUM BOMBER RAIDS

But also there are the day bombing raids on speciﬁed targets like power stations, steel works and harbour installations, so we will go to an aerodrome where medium bombers are preparing to go out with an escort of ﬁghters. The “circus” operation, as it is called, is timed to take off at 2 o’clock. It is a deliberately planned operation, very carefully timed and there is no need to stand by or rush into the air to catch a ﬂeeting target. The bombers and ﬁghters will either take off from the same aerodrome or will meet at a pre-arranged time and place. The bomber and ﬁghter leaders will get together beforehand and discuss with the greatest care every detail of the arrangements. Fighters have a limited petrol capacity and therefore cannot afford to waste any time in the air waiting for the bombers at the rendezvous.

Everything must go like clockwork if it is to be successful. The bombers will circle over the rendezvous at a pre-arranged height for a few minutes to allow the ﬁghter squadrons to take up their station in the best manner to protect the bombers from enemy ﬁghter attack. Then at a signal from the bomber leader, the combined formation will set off for the target. The bomber leader must be careful not to make any sudden alterations in the course or height which may cause the ﬁghter formation to lose station or straggle in any way, for if this should happen it will give the enemy ﬁghters the chance they are looking for. In a matter of seconds, perhaps, a straggling aircraft will be singled out for attack and will be lucky if he can get home to tell the tale.

ESCORT AND HIGH-GUARD SQUADRONS

Fig. 10. In circus operations the bombers are escorted by ﬁghters. One squadron ﬂies close behind and above the bombers and is known as the escort squadron. Above and behind the escort are two other squadrons which are called the high-guard squadrons. The arrangement of the bombers and their attendant ﬁghters is here illustrated diagrammatically

THE FIGHTER ESCORT

When we arrive at the aerodrome we see that the three Spitﬁre squadrons which are going to escort the formation of six Bostons have already arrived and are dispersed around the leeward side of the aerodrome. The bomber crews and ﬁghter pilots are having the details of the operations explained to them at the operations centre by the various formation leaders. None of them are new to the game, however, and a very few minutes suffice to put every one in the picture. The conference over, the pilots and crews go to their aircraft and one after another the engines are started up. The bombers go off ﬁrst and climb gently in a wide sweep. The leader carefully notes the time and follows the course he has mapped out to bring him over the rendezvous at 10,000 feet three minutes before the appointed time.

As soon as the bombers are in the air, the three Spitﬁre squadrons take off in formation, one after the other and disappear in the same direction. Arrived over the rendezvous, the bomber leader makes a wide circle and looks behind to see if the Spitﬁre squadrons are taking up their positions. One Spitﬁre squadron is close behind and above the bombers. This is the “escort” squadron. Behind and above the escort are the other two Spitﬁre squadrons, which are called the “high-guard” squadrons. Behind each ﬁghter squadron one Spitﬁre weaves from side to side, keeping a look out astern for enemy ﬁghters (Fig. 10).

The leader turns gently on to the correct course, and, still climbing, the formation crosses the coast. The leader looks far below to the smooth blue water of the Channel. He intends to cross the French coast at 13,000 feet and then, increasing speed, reduce his height to 12,000 feet over the target, which is a large electric power station in occupied territory. When crossing the French coast they are saluted by the enemy’s heavy A.A. guns, which put up a stiff barrage of bursting shells in and around the formations. It is astonishing that none of the aircraft is hit, as many of the bursts appear to be very close. Once the leader ﬂies through the smoke of a shell which bursts a couple of hundred yards ahead of him. When clear of the coast the A.A. ﬁre dies away, but is renewed on a smaller scale as they approach the target. The leader’s air observer has no difﬁculty in this clear weather in picking up the target when more than ten miles away and he watches it coming slowly along the drift bar of his bomb sight until the moment comes to release the bombs. As he presses the button which causes the bombs to fall off the racks, he gives the signal by R /T and all the other observers in the formation simultaneously release their bombs. He watches the great cluster of bombs go falling down towards the target, growing smaller and smaller as they creep on towards it. Many seconds pass and the bombs have grown so small that they have disappeared altogether when suddenly all over the target area large puffs of greyish-black smoke appear, and spout upwards to the sky. In a few moments the target is completely obscured by a heavy pall of smoke and the bomb aimer knows that his shooting has been good.

Immediately after releasing the bombs the air observer switches on the automatic camera, which will take a photograph every few seconds. As soon as the bombs have burst he stops the camera and tells the leader that all is well. The bomber formation now turns gently to port and sets course for home, the Spitﬁres keeping their proper station during the turn. Formations of enemy ﬁghters are now arriving to take a hand in the game. Four of them dive steeply past one of the Spitﬁre squadrons, and pulling out of the dive, attack the bombers by zooming up underneath them. A ﬂight of six Spitﬁres detaches itself from the escort squadron and attacks the enemy ﬁghters from behind, whereupon three of them roll on their backs and dive steeply away towards the ground. The fourth loses speed, stalls and spins down to earth with ﬁre and smoke pouring from the engine.

No more ﬁghters attempt to attack the bombers, but they repeatedly dive upon the escort Spitﬁres and ﬁre their guns from a long range. At last one more venturesome comes too close. Immediately a section of three Spitﬁres breaks away from one of the “high-guard” squadrons and manoeuvres on to his tail. The enemy ﬁghter dives vertically at a tremendous speed, but, as he is not seen to be set on ﬁre or crash, he is not claimed as destroyed. The three Spitﬁres then quickly take up their former positions in the squadron. By now the formation has reached the coast and again it has to pass through the barrage of bursting A.A. shells. Once more all the aircraft come safely through and now only the narrow strip of the Channel lies between them and England. The leader eases back the throttle and, losing height, crosses the coast at about 5,000 feet. Here he bids farewell to the Spitﬁres, which break off to go to their own aerodrome.

RAIDS BY MEDIUM BOMBERS

While the heavy bombers make the devastating night raids on industrial centres and ports in Germany, the medium bombers, with powerful ﬁghter escort, carry out valuable daylight attacks on power stations, steel works and harbour installations all over enemy-occupied territory. These daylight raids, which involve the combined use of ﬁghters and bombers, have to be planned with the utmost care and precision. Everything has to be timed to the minute if the attack is to be a success. Such daylight attacks are carried out by medium type bombers like the Bostons which are shown on the left. The Douglas Boston III is powered by two Wright double-row Cyclone radial engines and has a top speed of more than 350 miles per hour at about 12,000 feet. Its armament comprises six machine guns and it can carry a bomb load up to 2,000 pounds. This aircraft is also used as a night intruder bomber and in such a capacity has done a great deal of useful work over France and the Low Countries

After completing a period in a bomber squadron, the air crews pass on to the Operational Training Units, where they are employed in teaching their business to the crews under training. It is particularly important that the instructional staff at the Operational Training Units should be composed of men with recent experience in a service squadron so that they can ensure that the fresh crews reach their units imbued with up-to-date tactical ideas. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that the instructors at Operational Training Units are enjoying a rest after their spell of operations. Although the change is no doubt beneﬁcial, the work is hard and, moreover, lacks the thrill of operational ﬂying. The air crews look forward with pleasure to the day when, having ﬁnished their time as instructors, they will return to a squadron. There is something very satisfying about the esprit de corps of a service squadron; air crews are such true comrades in arms that almost from the ﬁrst day of their second tour of duty, the re-joined crews feel at home again. They now become the old hands of the squadron, veterans in the eyes of the crews now doing their ﬁrst tour of duty, who look to them tor advice and help.

The men of the bombers, by day and night, in fair weather and foul, carry on a continuous offensive against the enemy. No task can worry them; nothing can put them out of humour but a spell of inactivity caused by hopeless weather conditions. But it must not be supposed that they are supermen. They are ordinary ﬁt young men, who have been through an intensive course of training and have absorbed the spirit of the Royal Air Force. Their conversation may often be ﬂippant, and their demeanour at times apparently off-hand, but this is merely a mask which conceals a remarkable standard of courage and devotion to duty. To quote a line of Rudyard Kipling, they are not children or gods, but “men in a world of men.”

A DIRECT HIT IS SCORED

Attacks on ships are carried out from a very low level, partly because this is the best way to secure surprise and partly because it is harder for the ﬂak ships to hit low-flying aircraft. In addition it is extremely difficult for any defending aircraft to dive from above upon planes which are just skimming the waves. A fractional error in judging the moment in which to pull out of the dive would be fatal. Here a direct hit has been scored upon an enemy ship

THE WEAPONS OF FIGHTER COMMAND

Engine particulars and maximum speeds of six types of ﬁghter aircraft in service with the R.A.F. They are all very heavily armed and, with the exception of the Deﬁant and Hurricane IIc, have cannon as well as machine guns. The Hurricane IIc has four 20 mm. cannon only. The Mosquito is a powerful long-range and bomb-carrying ﬁghter made entirely of wood

CHAPTER 6

Fighter Aircraft of the R.A.F.

The Interceptor ﬁghter. Fire power, speed, climb and manoeuvrability. Wing loading. Streamlining. Retractable undercarriages. Tricycle type. Cannon and machine guns. Rate of ﬁre. The reﬂector sight. Tracer ammunition. Construction of wings and fuselage. Superchargers. Oxygen equipment. Flaps. Trimming tabs. Adjustable-pitch airscrew. Contra-rotating airscrews. Gloster Gladiator. Hawker Hurricane. Supermarine Spitﬁre. Messerschmitt 109E and F. Focke-Wulf 190. Fiat C.R.42. Fiat G.50. Macci C.200. Long range day ﬁghters. Bristol Blenheim. Junkers Ju88. Breda 88. Beauﬁghter. Mosquito. Messerschmitt 110. Night ﬁghters. Plastics. Performance details

IN Chapter 4 we discussed the qualities necessary to produce the ideal bomber aircraft and found that the designers were faced with a number of conﬂicting requirements which had to be blended in a balanced form. So it is with the ﬁghter. The rival claims of speed and manoeuvrability, for example, both of which are highly desirable, to some extent conﬂict with each other. A gain in speed is usually at the expense of manoeuvrability and vice versa, but the designer who is able to mix these and any other desirable qualities, such as climb, armament and so on in the best proportions will always produce an aircraft that is inﬁnitely better than that of his opponent.

CHANGES IN TECHNIQUE

The design of ﬁghters since the art of ﬂying was turned to the purposes of war has undergone many changes. From frail, slow, poorly-armed contraptions they have evolved into sturdy, compact and deadly weapons of war with a terriﬁc top speed and a huge ﬁre power. They can ascend to heights of seven or eight miles, they can dive at speeds of more than six hundred miles an hour. The pilot can keep in constant communication with his base and with other members of his squadron, he is placed within visual distance of enemy aircraft by ground control, and he can land blind in fog or darkness by means of the radio beam, an important aeronautical development.

Fighter aircraft may be broadly classiﬁed under two headings. Those that operate by day and those designed speciﬁcally for night interception. When the war began, it was thought that the role of the ﬁghter was purely defensive and that the fast single-seater aircraft which operated by day could also carry out such night defensive work as the limitations of weather conditions would permit. Very soon, however, both ideas had to be radically changed. Once the Battle of Britain was over and the Germans began to concentrate on night bombing, it was found that the attacking bomber had many advantages in the dark over a small ﬁghter. A special night ﬁghter had to be produced, while, with the R.A.F. reaching out towards France, the need for an offensive ﬁghter arose and from that need came the development of the ﬁghter-bomber and the low-level attacking machines which are used for the shooting up of troops and transport.

Even so, however, the day ﬁghter is still chieﬂy an interceptor ﬁghter with a comparatively short range in the neighbourhood of seven or eight hundred miles. This means that it can only stay in the air for short periods, about one and a half to two and a half hours. It has a very high top speed, a great rate of climb, a high service ceiling and, in comparison with its size, a devastating battery of guns. It is used ﬁrst and foremost to intercept and destroy enemy bombers, although it is often employed for low-level attacks on enemy troop concentrations.

A SPITFIRE, KING OF SINGLE-SEATER FIGHTERS

It is generally acknowledged that the Vickers-Armstrongs Supermarine Spitﬁre, with its magniﬁcent lines and handling qualities, is the ﬁnest single-seater ﬁghter at present in service with any air force in the world. The Mk I version had an armament of eight machine guns, four in each wing, but later the Mk II and Mk V came into service armed with two 20-mm. cannon and four machine guns. The Mk V illustrated above has been ﬁtted with a more powerful engine than the earlier models. A later model, the Mark IX, is now in service

IDEAL REQUIREMENTS

The interceptor has perforce to be a compromise between a number of ideal requirements, and in different nations different weight has been placed on these attributes. In Great Britain, for example, a very high degree of importance is placed on armament, speed, climb and manoeuvrability, in that order. Germany has put speed at the top of the list, with climb, armament and manoeuvrability following. Italy, on the other hand, put manoeuvrability ﬁrst, followed by climb, speed and armament. These remarks are, of course, generalisations only and do not coincide exactly with the attributes of all the different types of ﬁghter aircraft belonging to these nations.

All these qualities, however, cannot be included in maximum degree in a single aircraft. Speed, for example, depends on high wing loading. Wing loading is the gross weight of an aircraft divided by the area of the main planes and ailerons. As an example, the Gloster Gladiator, a biplane which was still in operational use when the war began, but which has long since been superseded by newer and faster types, has a wing area of 323 square feet and a loaded weight of 4,750 pounds, giving a wing loading of 14.7 pounds.

The higher the wing loading, however, the less the manoeuvrability, so the designer must decide at the outset whether his aircraft is to be extremely fast at the expense of manoeuvrability or less fast and more manoeuvrable. It is interesting to note in this connexion that the German Messerschmitt 109E with a wing loading of 31.4 pounds and a top speed of 354 miles per hour, usually came off second best when opposed to the more manoeuvrable Hurricane with its top speed of 335 miles per hour and wing loading of 23.3 pounds.

Now, as regards climb. Like manoeuvrability this can be improved with a low wing loading. Thus we get two factors, climb and manoeuvrability, both dependent upon low wing loading and a third, speed, dependent on a high wing loading, power being equal. We cannot here enter into a discussion as to the sort of balance that should be struck between these conﬂicting requirements, so we will content ourselves by pointing out some of the advantages.

The need for speed is obvious. A ﬁghter is primarily designed to bring the enemy to combat, but if it cannot catch him it is clearly of little use except, possibly, to scare him away. Climb is important because the pilot who is above his foe always has an advantage for he can dive down on his enemy and take full advantage of the extra speed which such a dive will give him either to continue or to break away from the combat.

MANOEUVRABILITY AND ARMAMENT

Manoeuvrability in aerial combat is of considerable importance because the aircraft that can turn quicker, or dive or bank or zoom quicker, can bring its guns to bear on the target faster than its opponent, and that fact is all important in ﬁghter combat. Lastly, armament in a ﬁghter aircraft must be powerful because, however fast or manoeuvrable the aircraft may be these attributes will avail little if, having manoeuvred his aircraft into the best position to administer the knockout blow, the pilot is prevented from doing so by inadequate gun power.

In their quest for speed aircraft designers have been helped considerably by the powerful engines that have been put into their hands. The latest aero engines develop enormous power for their weight, and this is responsible for the very high speeds that are common today.

TRICYCLE UNDERCARRIAGE OF A HAVOC

Fig. 1. Some of the ﬁghter aircraft supplied to the R.A.F. by the U .S.A. are ﬁtted with tricycle undercarriages. With this type a nose wheel replaces the more conventional tail wheel. Such undercarriages are ﬁtted to the Havoc, seen above, the Bell Airacobra, and to some bombers

RETRACTABLE UNDERCARRIAGES

Designers have for years been experimenting with devices to increase speed without affecting manoeuvrability, and one of the most successful means by which they have achieved this is streamlining. Modern ﬁghters are so designed as to ﬂy through the air with the minimum of resistance. All projections likely to increase air drag have, wherever possible, been eliminated; undercarriages have been made to retract into the wings; all rivets are countersunk, and the whole exterior of the aircraft is treated with special non-friction paint.

The retractable undercarriage is an ingenious mechanism. It is operated by hydraulic rams, and each leg with its wheel is made to retract either inwards, outwards or backwards into wells built into the wings to receive it. On one side of each leg is a fairing so that when the undercarriage is retracted the whole assembly ﬁts ﬂush with the wing and offers little or no resistance to the air. The pilot always retracts his undercarriage as soon as the aircraft is airborne so as not to retard acceleration. This is done by means of a lever in the cockpit, and a dial on the instrument panel tells him whether the wheels are up or down. In addition he has a warning buzzer which sounds should he attempt to land with the undercarriage not properly lowered. The Air Ministry insists that all such undercarriages have locks to ﬁx them securely in the up and down positions.

A recent innovation in undercarriage design is the tricycle type. This is incorporated in several types of aircraft built by the U.S.A., notably the Bell Airacobra, the Lockheed Lightning and the Havoc. With this type there is no tail wheel. Instead a wheel is ﬁxed in the nose. Aircraft ﬁtted with such undercarriages, therefore, are in the ﬂying position when standing on the ground, and amongst the advantages claimed for it are quicker take off, shorter landing run, and a considerable lessening of the danger of nosing over when landing (Fig. 1).

The armament of interceptor ﬁghters consists of machine guns, shell-ﬁring cannon, or a combination of both. In British types these guns are usually mounted in the wings outside the area swept by the airscrew, and so arranged that their ﬁre converges some distance in front of and in line with the aircraft’s nose. In some enemy aircraft interrupter gear is ﬁtted which enables the guns to ﬁre through the airscrew, and in some cases the cannon is so arranged as to ﬁre through the airscrew boss.

The number of- ﬁxed guns that can be carried in the wings is limited by the length of wing available outside the airscrew disc, by the structure of the wings, and by the space occupied by the undercarriage when in the retracted position.

The greatest number of machine guns to be carried by any interceptor aircraft today is twelve, and six of these guns are contained in each wing (Fig. 2).

As we have said, Britain lays great stress on heavy armament. The earliest Spitﬁres and Hurricanes, for example, carried four machine guns in each wing. These had an effective range up to about three hundred yards, but their combined weight of ﬁre was devastating. Later, however, cannon were ﬁtted which had a longer range (Fig. 3), but machine guns, although reduced in number, were still used. Later Spitﬁres carried two cannon and four machine guns, whilst the latest Typhoons carry either four cannon or twelve .303 machine guns.

TWELVE-GUN HURRICANE

Fig. 2. The greatest number of machine guns carried by any single-seater ﬁghter is twelve. These are to be found on the Mk IIb version of the Hurricane, seen above. They have a maximum combined rate of ﬁre of 14,400 rounds a minute, a devastating power of attack

COMPARATIVE RANGES OF CANNON AND MACHINE GUNS

Fig. 3. Diagram illustrating effective ranges of 37-mm. cannon, 20-mm. cannon and rifle calibre machine guns. The cannon ﬁre explosive shells which have a great power of penetration. The maximum rate of ﬁre of a single machine gun is about 1,200 rounds per minute

RATE OF FIRE

The normal rate of ﬁre of a single machine gun is about 1,200 rounds a minute, and some idea of what this means may be gathered from the fact that the twelve-gun Hurricane has a maximum rate of ﬁre of 14,400 rounds a minute, giving a total weight of 360 pounds. The four cannon version has a maximum weight of ﬁre of 600 pounds per minute.

Normally, the amount of ammunition carried by each gun in a single-seat ﬁghter is about 300 rounds. It will be realized therefore, that with their tremendous rate of ﬁre, the supply would run out in something like ﬁfteen seconds’ continuous ﬁring. This, to the layman, must sound inadequate, but it must be remembered that modern ﬁghter combat consists of considerable periods of manoeuvre with only comparatively short bursts of ﬁring. A two-second burst at the correct range is usually sufﬁcient to send the enemy down in ﬂames. It is for this very short period of ﬁring that the whole design of the interceptor is directed: the speed, the climb, the manoeuvrability are only important in so far as they enable the aircraft to get into the position from which it can ﬁre its guns at the enemy.

With modern machine guns placed as they are comparatively far away from the pilot, it is impossible for him to attempt to clear any stoppage in his guns. This was perhaps his biggest trouble during the war of 1914-1918 when the guns were placed well within his reach and frequently developed stoppages through overheating or other reasons. The pilot of today ﬁres his guns by pressing a button on the control column and trusts to the skill of the armourers that they will not let him down. Fortunately, in spite of their tremendous rate of ﬁre, they are extremely reliable. Types of aircraft machine guns are illustrated in Fig. 4.

The ammunition for the machine guns is carried on long belts inside the wings (Fig. 5). That for the cannon is contained either in large drums or on belts.

BRITISH, GERMAN AND ITALIAN MACHINE GUNS

Fig. 4. Top to bottom: Rifle-calibre Browning belt-fed gun, it has a rate of ﬁre of approximately 1,200 rounds per minute; Vickers’ drum-fed observer’s gun; Rheinmettal-Borsig, Germany’s standard aircraft machine gun which has a rate of ﬁre of approximately 1,000 rounds per minute; Breda belt-fed gun as used by the Italian air force before Italy surrendered

RE-LOADING A HURRICANE FIGHTER

Fig. 5. Ammunition for the machine guns of ﬁghter aircraft is carried on long, snakelike belts inside the wings. Above, a member of a Hurricane’s maintenance crew is seen loading up, whilst two more are replenishing the fuel tanks from a motor-driven tanker

When the modern ﬁghter pilot attacks an enemy aircraft he actually aims his machine at his opponent and special sights have been evolved which are a great improvement on those used in the last war. In those days the pilot had to look through a wire graticule to get his foresight on the enemy. Later he looked through a long tube through which he would see his opponent against an etched graticule in a glass lens. Nowadays he has a reﬂector sight which throws up a reﬂected ring on to his windscreen and considerably simpliﬁes his task of watching his enemy and, at the same time, avoiding collision with his friends in the heat of the action.

Another aid to ﬁring is the use of tracer bullets and tracer shells. Normally, in machine guns at any rate, every ﬁfth bullet is a tracer. These bullets are visible to the pilot during their ﬂight and are of considerable assistance to him in determining whether his ﬁre is hitting or missing the enemy.

LOADING AND TESTING 20-MM. CANNON

Cannon shells are placed in belts which are rolled in drums. The machine shown above is being equipped and is a four cannon Hurricane.

The two cannon of a Spitﬁre ﬁghter are seen undergoing test at an R.A.F. range. Note the used ammunition piling up on the ground

Most modern ﬁghters are of all-metal construction. The fuselage generally consists of a framework of aluminium alloy and steel with a stressed skin covering. The wings normally have high tensile steel spars with aluminium alloy ribs. Everything possible is done to keep the weight down to a minimum, and in recent years designers have been considerably helped by the metallurgist in attaining this end. By taking an ounce off here and a pennyweight off there, the designer has produced a machine which uses every single horse power of its engine to the best advantage. No unnecessary weight is carried, but strength is never sacriﬁced at the expense of safety. It is interesting to note that a comparatively heavy machine like the Hurricane, with all its equipment, has a power loading of seven and a half pounds per horse power, a remarkable tribute to the skill of its designers.

Fighters, like other aircraft, are subject to certain limitations when ﬂying at great heights, and various devices are incorporated in their design to overcome these difﬁculties. These limitations are brought about by the drop in the density of the air as height increases, and besides affecting the pilot, as explained in the next chapter, it affects the engine also, so that most modern ﬁghters must be ﬁtted with at least two-stage superchargers in order that they can maintain the highest possible speed at the different heights at which action may be necessary.

AIDS TO CLIMBING

These superchargers come into operation at the selected height and tend to compress the air to the same pressure as is experienced at ground level, and maintain it at a greater density than the supporting air at all altitudes. Without them it would not be possible for aircraft to ascend to the very great heights, often in excess of seven miles, at which action is necessary in modern war.

Height also makes it necessary for ﬁghters to carry oxygen equipment, for the rareﬁed air is not sufficient to support life and the pilot must be supplied with oxygen by artiﬁcial means. High pressure oxygen bottles are carried behind the pilot and the gas is inhaled through a mask. In some types of equipment the gas is inhaled through the mouth.

On account of the high wing loading of modern ﬁghters and their consequent higher landing speed, they must be ﬁtted with ﬂaps. These are attached beneath the trailing edges of the wings, and are brought into operation by a lever in the pilot’s cockpit. Besides making slower landings possible, they also make the angle of glide steeper, a considerable advantage if a forced landing has to be made in a conﬁned space.

Most ﬁghters are ﬁtted with trimming tabs which are adjusted at varying speeds. An increase or decrease in speed tends to raise or lower the nose of the aircraft. Unevenly disposed loads can also produce the same effect. To counteract this a pilot would have to exert pressure backwards, forwards or sideways on the control column if he had no trimming tabs. Therefore trimming tabs are mechanical aids to save the pilot undue exertion. These are ﬁtted to the ailerons, rudder and elevator, and they take the weight of the aircraft off the controls so that the pilot can ﬂy hands off.

Then there is the adjustable-pitch airscrew which is ﬁtted to most types of interceptors. In this type of airscrew the blades are constructed so as to swivel, and their grip on the air can thereby be adjusted. This is desirable so that the most efficient engine and airscrew revolutions can be obtained at the same time under varying conditions of ﬂight. The variable-pitch airscrew (Fig. 6) solves this problem. It has been suggested that by reversing the pitch of the airscrew it would act as a brake, but this idea has not yet been adopted.

PRINCIPLE OF THE VARIABLE-PITCH AIRSCREW

Fig. 6. Diagram showing how the blades of a variable-pitch airscrew can be adjusted by the pilot so that the most efficient engine and airscrew revolutions can be obtained

The question of having two airscrews on the same engine, each rotating in different directions, is being experimented with for use on ﬁghter aircraft. It is claimed that such an airscrew will dispense with the inconvenient effect of torque, that is, the tendency of the aircraft to twist in the opposite direction to that in which the airscrew is rotating, that it will assist take-off and will allow of a reduction in the diameter of airscrews. It is claimed that the contra-rotating airscrew would also considerably increase the performance of fast aircraft at high altitudes (Fig. 7).

CONTRA-ROTATING AIRSCREWS

Fig. 7. Aircraft ﬁtted with three-bladed contra-rotating airscrews. It is claimed that such airscrews, amongst other things, increase the performance of aircraft at high altitudes

The interceptor ﬁghter nowadays has to carry a special type of short-range wireless transmitting and receiving set. This is a vital piece of apparatus through which the pilot can communicate with his squadron and with his base. In addition some nations ﬁt their ﬁghters with blind landing equipment that enables them to land in foggy weather on a radio beam. Some nations also ﬁt their ﬁghters with radio compasses which enable them to “home” on any radio station. Britain, however, does not adopt this device but relies upon the pilots obtaining their course as the result of a “ﬁx” on a signal sent out by them and located by two or more ground stations. This will be explained in some detail in the chapter on navigation. All ﬁghters, of course, have magnetic and gyro compasses.

PILOT’S COCKPIT OF A SPITFIRE

Fig. 8. 1, Gun sight; 2, gun-sight mounting; 3, artiﬁcial horizon; 4, rate of climb indicator; 5, revolution counter; 6, brake lever; 6a, turn indicator; 7, gun button; 8, control column; 9, air-speed indicator; 10, oil and fuel pressure gauges; 11, engine-boost gauge; 12, oil and radiator pressure gauges; 13, fuel gauges; 14, rudder bar; 15, light switch; 16, emergency pump for operating undercarriage if automatic mechanism fails to function; 17, undercarriage selector lever; 18, pilot’s seat; 19, recognition lamp switch; 20, radiator-ﬂap control

INSIDE THE COCKPIT

To look into the cockpit of a ﬁghter and see the multiplicity of instruments which these devices entail, together with the various controls and instruments which enable the engine’s performance to be watched, gives one seriously to wonder how the pilot can ﬁnd time to ﬂy his aircraft, much less to ﬁght the enemy. Fig 8 shows the inside of a Spitﬁre’s cockpit.

Enough has been said to show what a complicated masterpiece of engineering and design the modern interceptor ﬁghter is. It represents the result of years of experiment, and the fact that so much gear and equipment can be compressed into so small a space makes the achievement all the more wonderful.

Let us now take a look at some of the different types of interceptor ﬁghters which have been, and are being, used by the warring powers and see how they compare.

GLOSTER GLADIATOR FIGHTER

Fig. 9. The Gladiator, last of Britain’s biplane ﬁghters, saw much service in Norway and Africa. It has a top speed of 250 miles per hour and a service ceiling of 32,800 feet

We will start this survey with the Gloster Gladiator (Fig. 9) as it shows more than anything the change that has come about in ﬁghter aircraft since the war began. It is a biplane and is now obsolete, but it was an extremely manoeuvrable little machine with a top speed of 250 miles per hour, a service ceiling of 32,800 feet and an armament of four machine guns. It operated in Norway in 1940 and although working under very difﬁcult conditions, achieved success against Heinkels and Dorniers encountered. It also saw considerable service against the Italians and Germans in the North African campaign.

HAWKER HURRICANE

The Hawker Hurricane (Fig. 10) is probably the most versatile ﬁghter in use by any country. Together with the Spitﬁre it was primarily responsible for the crushing defeat of the Luftwaffe in the autumn of 1940. The Mk I version has a top speed of 335 miles per hour, a ceiling of 31,000 feet, and an armament of eight machine guns ﬁring through the leading edges of the wings clear of the airscrew. It is slightly slower than the German Messerschmitt 109, but considerably more manoeuvrable, especially in combat.

HAWKER HURRICANE

Fig. 10. Details of layout of the Hurricane Mk I ﬁghter. It is bigger than the Spitﬁre and not so fast, but is extremely manoeuvrable. The later versions have a heavier armament and are sometimes equipped to carry bombs. The drawing is reproduced here by the courtesy of the “Illustrated London News”

When small, light single-seat ﬁghters open ﬁre, unless the burst is a very short one, the effect of the guns ﬁring makes it very difficult for the pilot to keep the target in his sights. The Hurricane, however, which is large for its class, is a very steady gun platform, a fact which contributes greatly to the destructive effect of its guns.

The Hurricane pilot has armour plate behind his head and back which gives him good protection from attack. The petrol tanks are self-sealing.

The Hurricane Mk IIb is a faster plane than the Mk I and has a better ceiling. It is armed with twelve machine guns. The IIc (Fig. 11) has four 20-mm. cannon only, which slightly reduce its top speed.

HAWKER HURRICANE Mk IIC

Fig. 11. This aircraft is armed with four 20-mm. shell-ﬁring cannon mounted, as shown, in the wings. It has an inwards-retracting undercarriage, a central radiator, and straight tapered wings. Like the Spitﬁre, it is powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin liquid-cooled engine

The IIc has made a speciality of attacking enemy coastal shipping and ﬂak ships and its devastating weight of ﬁre has been sufﬁcient to sink or set ﬁre to quite large ships. The Hurricane Mk IIb has also been used with marked success as a ﬁghter-bomber. This version carries two 250-lb. bombs, one under each wing outboard of the undercarriage. These are ﬁtted with delayed action fuzes and are dropped from a very low altitude.

SPITFIRE Mk V

Fig. 12. This aircraft may be distinguished from the Hawker Hurricane by its elliptical wings. Other points of difference are its outwards-retracting undercarriage and radiator under the starboard wing. It is armed with two 20-mm. cannon and four machine guns, two in each wing

CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF THE SPITFIRE

Fig. 13. Diagram showing main features of the Spitﬁre. This aircraft was developed from the seaplane that won the Schneider trophy for Britain, and was ﬁrst ﬂown early in 1936. It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a span of 36 feet 10 inches, a length of 29 feet 11 inches and a height of 11 feet 5 inches. The undercarriage retracts outwards and is equipped with an emergency device for lowering the wheels should the automatic system fail. A warning buzzer in the pilot’s cockpit tells the pilot if the undercarriage has not been properly lowered and locked in position. Split flaps are ﬁtted beneath the trailing edge of the wings between the ailerons and the fuselage. These are indicated, but not shown in the drawing

VICKERS-ARMSTRONG SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE

The Spitﬁre (Figs. 12 and 13) with its magniﬁcent lines and handling qualities is almost certainly the world’s ﬁnest single-seat ﬁghter. The original version, the Mk I, was armed with eight machine guns, but later the Mk II and Mk V came into service armed with two 20-mm. cannon and four machine guns. There is now a Mark IX which is a still greater improvement on the original model. The armour is just the same as that of the Hurricane.

The Mk I Spitﬁre had a speed of 370 miles per hour and a ceiling of about 36,000 feet. The later versions with their more powerful engines and other reﬁnements have a better ceiling and a maximum speed which is probably a good deal in excess of 400 m.p.h.

Another ﬁghter which has been used with considerable success by the R.A.F., though it has not received the publicity accorded the Spitﬁre and the Hurricane, is the Whirlwind. It is the only twin-engined single-seat ﬁghter the R.A.F. has ever used to equip its squadrons. It has a longer range than the Spitﬁre and once a squadron of Whirlwinds acted as ﬁghter escort to bombers as far as the Dutch coast. The two 850 horse-power Rolls Royce engines make the aircraft exceedingly fast. Four 20-mm. cannons are ﬁtted in the nose and latterly two bombs have been carried outboard of the engines. The use of the Whirlwind has, however, been restricted to special purposes.

The Typhoon, about which for security reasons very little can yet be said, has also just come into operational use by the R.A.F. It is a larger, grown-up brother of the Hurricane and was designed by the same man, Mr. Sidney Camm. It is powered by the Napier 2,400 horse “Sabre” engine and is credited with a speed of more than four hundred miles an hour. It is said to be very sturdy in construction and a steady gun platform. It was ﬁrst known that it had become operational after a daylight raid on south-east London by F.W. 190 ﬁghter-bombers, when a squadron of Typhoons chased the raiders back to the coast and shot down ﬁve. It was then announced that Typhoons had also had a share in providing the air “umbrella” cover at the time of the Dieppe Commando raid.

GERMAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Fig. 14. Engine particulars and top speeds of ﬁve types of single- and twin-engine ﬁghter aircraft in service with the Luftwaffe. The Junkers 88 is a modiﬁed version of the dive bomber, and is used mainly as a night ﬁghter. All these types are fully described in the text

The Germans have two interceptor ﬁghters in the Hurricane-Spitﬁre class. These are the Messerschmitt 109 and the Focke-Wulf 190. The Messerschmitt, like the Hurricane, has been used for a variety of purposes and there have been two models, 109E and 109F (Fig. 14). Designed in the ﬁrst place as an interceptor ﬁghter, it was used for escort work and also for low level bombing operations.

The 109E has a top speed of 354 miles per hour and a ceiling of 36,000 feet. The armament consists of two .300 machine guns mounted on the engine crankcase and synchronized to ﬁre through the airscrew, and either two 20-mm. cannon or two .300 machine guns, one in each wing.

In combat with British aircraft several characteristics are noticeable. The 109E seems to have difﬁculty in executing a climbing turn to the right. So a climbing turn to the right is often used by British bombers when attacked by these aircraft.

When attacked by ﬁghters the 109E pilots invariably go into a steep dive because when the stick is pushed violently forward, the engines on aircraft ﬁtted with carburettors will cut out for a second or two and then pick up again. Owing to their petrol injection device the engines of the 109E do not do so, and the extra second they gain by what might be termed their “crash dive” helps them considerably in their efforts to get away.

GERMANY’S FAMOUS ME. SINGLE-SEATER FIGHTER

Fig. 15. Diagram showing main features of the Messerschmitt 109F. It is an improved version of the 109E, the main changes being the removal of bracing struts from the tail plane and the extension to the wings, which now have rounded tips. The performance is better than that of the 109E. Drawing reproduced by courtesy of the “Illustrated London News”

The 109F (Fig. 15) is a modiﬁed form of the 109E. The main differences in appearance are the lack of bracing struts on the tailplane and the extension to the wings which instead of having square tips are now elliptical in shape. The general appearance of the aircraft is now much more like the Hurricane. The power of the engine has been increased and the whole performance of the aircraft improved. Its top speed is about 370 miles per hour and the service ceiling 38,000 feet. The armament of this German ﬁghter has been reduced to one 20 mm. cannon ﬁring through the airscrew boss, and two machine guns which are synchronized to ﬁre through the airscrew.

This aircraft is a good high altitude flyer and has replaced the 109E. Its performance now more nearly equals the latest version of the Spitﬁre, but these improvements have only been achieved by a reduction in ﬁre power and the Spitﬁre Mk V with its two cannon and four machine guns has a big advantage.

The Focke-Wulf 190 was a surprise to the R.A.F. when it was ﬁrst used by the Germans from their bases in Northern France. It has a radial air-cooled engine and it was thought to be a Curtis Hawk, supplied by America to the French Air Force and captured by the Germans when they occupied France. Its appearance in increasing numbers and closer acquaintance with it, however, soon disabused the British pilots and they found that it had a ﬁne turn of speed and a good rate of climb. It was outmanoeuvred by the Spitﬁre in straight dog-ﬁghts all the same and the Germans began to use it more for diving on straggling ﬁghters with reliance on its climbing abilities to get it out of trouble. A model was soon captured intact by the R.A.F., overhauled and ﬂown by British test pilots. They found that it had a wing loading of 42.3 lbs., a climb rate of 3,200 feet at 17,500 feet and a speed of 375 miles an hour at 18,000 ft. The engine was a 14 cylinder B M W radial of 2,000 horse power. It was armed with four 20-mm. cannon and two machine guns of 7.92 calibre. The machine guns were arranged to ﬁre through the nose. There was a bomb rack beneath the fuselage for a 250 lb. bomb, and latterly the aircraft has been used as a sneak night bomber.

In addition, Germany experimented at one time with the Heinkel 113, developed from the aircraft which set up the landplane record in 1939. It was reported to have a top speed of about 400 miles an hour, but it was not encountered much by the R.A.F. and apparently never got over its initial teething troubles sufﬁciently to go into mass production for operational use.

ITALIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Fig. 16. Engine particulars and maximum speeds of seven Italian types used against the United Nations before Italy surrendered unconditionally. None of these could compare in speed or armament with their British and German counterparts, but they were very manoeuvrable

Very little need be said about Italian ﬁghters used against us before Italy surrendered. Even in the Middle East, before we had Spitﬁres and Hurricanes out there, our bombers were able to give a good account of themselves when they met Italians and it was stated at the end of 1942 that production of Italian designed aircraft in Italian factories was to cease, the works being turned over to the erection of German troop carriers and transport under the guidance of German technicians.

FIAT C.R.42

Some Italian types of ﬁghters are, however, illustrated in Fig 16. Unlike the British and the Germans, the Italians had not concentrated upon one or two types, but had built altogether something like ten different ﬁghters, none of which was in the same class as their British or German counterparts. The Fiat C.R.42, for example, was a biplane with a top speed of 272 miles per hour and a service ceiling of 32,800 feet. It was an improved version of the C.R.32 and was almost exactly the same size as the Gladiator. It was not so manoeuvrable, however, and had a poor armament of two machine guns ﬁring through the airscrew as against the Gladiator’s four guns. It was used a great deal in the Middle East and in Greece where it was found to be of little hindrance to British bombers and an easy opponent for the Gladiator.

Another product of the Fiat company was the G.50 monoplane ﬁghter which had a top speed of 299 miles per hour and a ceiling of 30,000 feet. The pilot sat in an enclosed cockpit aft of the trailing edge of the wings. The armament was two ﬁxed machine guns ﬁring through the airscrew, and the pilot had no armour protection. It was generally thought to be unsuccessful and it had probably gone out of production by the time that Italy surrendered.

MACCHI C.200

Probably the best of the Italian single seater ﬁghters was the Macchi C.200 and its later development the 202, seen in small numbers over Malta at the height of the attacks on the George Cross island in the summer of 1942. It had distinctly better lines than the G.50, but even so, its performance was poor in comparison with British ﬁghters. It was smaller than the Spitﬁre and easily recognizable by its radial engine and the humped appearance of the fuselage. The pilot’s cockpit was on top of the hump and he had an excellent view. Its maximum speed was 313 miles per hour and its service ceiling 30,000 feet. Like other Italian ﬁghters its armament was poor consisting of one .5 and one .3 calibre gun, both mounted in troughs in the top of the fuselage and ﬁring through the airscrew. In accordance with general Italian practice it was equipped to carry small bombs of about 2 lb. in weight. The Macchi 202 conformed to modern British and German practice in as much as it was ﬁtted with a liquid-cooled in-line engine.

To sum up brieﬂy, the special qualities of the day interceptor are very high speed and rate of climb, high service ceiling and heavy armour. The day ﬁghter vis-à-vis enemy ﬁghters and not against bombers, requires a high standard of manoeuvrability as well. In such ﬁghters the power to turn in a smaller circle than one’s enemy while maintaining height is of enormous importance. It enforces on the opponent the need to break off the combat because if the circling match is continued for long theaircraft with the smaller turning circle will inevitably get on the tail of its opponent.

SHORT-NOSE BLENHEIM

Fig. 17. Bristol Blenheim Mk I ﬁghter-bomber. It is powered by two 840 h.p. Mercury engines, has a top speed of 285 miles per hour and a range of 1,125 miles. When used as a ﬁghter it is armed with four additional machine guns under the fuselage and one machine gun in a Bristol power operated retractable turret on top of the fuselage. It carries a crew of three

The long range aircraft whose duty it is to escort bombers and, on occasion, make surprise attacks on its own well behind the enemy lines on concentrations of transport and troops, to shoot up and bomb small bridges over rivers and viaducts carrying important railway lines is also a day ﬁghter. This type of ﬁghter tends to resemble the night ﬁghter in its design and lay-out much more than does the simple interceptor. It is almost invariably a twin-engine machine so that it has power to counteract the extra weight that has to be carried to give it long range fuel supply. The pilot usually has a navigator or gunner ﬂying with him, not so much for the purpose of ﬁring the guns but to reload them and attend to all the many details of wireless and course ﬁnding, map reading and to give him an extra pair of eyes to pick out targets by day and search the blackness of the sky by night. In modern practice, the guns or cannon of a long range ﬁghter are ﬁxed so as to ﬁre straight ahead of the machine as in an interceptor.

Long range ﬁghters are also equipped with most of the devices of the interceptor, ﬂaps, oxygen equipment, and so on, but in addition frequently carry direction ﬁnding apparatus as well. The retractable undercarriages, instead of folding into the wings, generally retract backwards into the engine nacelles, and the airscrews, in some cases, rotate in opposite directions in order to counteract the effect of torque. The speeds of these ﬁghters, because of their design, were lower in the aircraft that did duty for the ﬁrst year or so of the war than those of the interceptors, but modern machines such as the Beauﬁghter and, particularly, the Mosquito are incredibly fast.

The three long-range ﬁghters of Britain, Germany and Italy which most closely corresponded when the war began were the Blenheim, the Junkers 88 and the Breda 88. These three aircraft each had their special characteristics in which they excelled each other. The Blenheim was the slowest, but had the longest range and was very manoeuvrable (Fig. 17). It was used either as a day bomber or long range ﬁghter and is still operational on some of the lesser fronts and for special purposes. There are two versions, the Mk I, which is known as the short-nosed Blenheim and the Mk IV, or long-nose version. The Mk I is ten miles per hour slower than the Mk IV, having a maximum speed of 285 miles an hour at 15,000 feet as compared with a so far undisclosed speed for the Mosquito, but one probably a hundred miles an hour faster. The ceiling for both versions of the Blenheim is about 27,280 feet. The Mk I version has a range of 1,125 miles. and the Mk IV, ﬁtted with extra fuel tanks in the wings, a range of 1,900 miles.

The Blenheim was the ﬁrst modern high speed bomber to be produced for Britain, and has certainly been one of the most useful aircraft. It has been used for almost every type of operation, coastal reconnaissance, long distance reconnaissance, attacks on shipping, day and night bombing, day escort ﬁghting and night ﬁghting, and it has fulﬁlled all these duties magniﬁcently. These duties remain. Later types merely carry them out more efﬁciently, having been specially designed because of the lessons learned.

Here we will only deal with the Blenheim when it is employed as a ﬁghter. Both long-and short-nose versions have been used for this purpose.

The Mk I carries a crew of three; pilot, navigator and air gunner, the last being in a semi-retractable power operated turret on the top of the fuselage. The Mark IV has extra petrol tanks ﬁtted in the wings to give it extra range and carries a crew of three, the navigator’s position being in the extended portion of the nose. Besides the pilot there is also a wireless operator-rear gunner in the turret.

The armour and armament on both the versions are the same. The armour consists of an armoured bulkhead across the whole width of the fuselage behind the pilot and observer’s seats, and armour in the nose of the front of the pilot’s instrument panel. The armament consists of ﬁve ﬁxed .303 machine guns, four in a mounting under the fuselage and one in the port wing outboard of the engine, and one or two free machine guns in the power operated turret. Remotely controlled guns ﬁre rearward from a blister immediately under the nose.

The Blenheim is a very pleasant aircraft to ﬂy and for its size one of the most manoeuvrable twin engined aircraft in the world. It can be ﬂown quite comfortably on one engine and can take an almost unlimited amount of punishment.

The Junkers 88 is a low wing monoplane and is similar in all respects to the Junkers 88 A1 bomber with the exception of the nose which is all metal, cone shaped and similar in appearance to the Beauﬁghter’s. The power plant consists of two 1,200 h.p. Junkers Juno engines which give it a probable top speed in excess of 320 miles per hour, and a probable range of 1,500 miles. Although its ceiling is not deﬁnitely known it is likely to be in excess of the Junkers 88 bomber, which has a ceiling of 30,000 feet. Following general German practice the accommodation is cramped, provision being made for a crew of three in that part of the fuselage forward of the front spar.

This aircraft is used mainly as a night ﬁghter to intercept enemy aircraft over their own aerodromes. It is painted completely black and is comparable for size with the Havoc which has been used by the R.A.F. for the same purpose.

The usual armament is one 15-mm. high velocity shell cannon and three riﬂe calibre machine guns, all ﬁxed in the nose to the right of the pilot on a level with his feet. These guns occupy the space used in the bomber version by the bomb aimer. In addition there are twin upper rear guns on a spherical mounting, and the single lower rear gun is in a blister beneath the fuselage. The number of guns carried seems to vary with individual aircraft, some having only one above and one below the fuselage.

BREDA 88

The Italian counterpart to the Blenheim and the Junkers 88 was the Breda 88. It was powered by two 1,000 h.p. Piaggio air-cooled radial engines that gave it a top speed of 321 miles per hour. It had a 1,100 miles range and a ceiling of 27,000 feet.

When used as an escort ﬁghter it normally carried a crew of two. It was somewhat similar in side and plan view to the Lockheed Hudson, the distinctive features being the large engine nacelles beneath the wings and kidney-shaped ﬁns and rudders. The normal armament consisted of three ﬁxed .5 in. bore machine guns in the nose, the rear gunner having a .300 bore free machine gun. Provision was also allowed for the storage of bombs.

Compared with the ﬁghter Blenheim, the Breda 88 was faster but much less manoeuvrable and had a smaller range. The armament about equalled that of the Blenheim, three heavy bore ﬁxed machine guns as compared with ﬁve .303 machine guns. The Breda 88 was certainly the best all-round aircraft the Italians had.

BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER

Fig. 18. The Beauﬁghter is a larger aircraft than the Blenheim, having a wing span of 58 feet and a length of 40 feet 11 inches. It is powered by two 1,400 h.p. Bristol Hercules engines and has a top speed in excess of 320 miles per hour. It is heavily armed with cannon and machine guns and carries a crew of two. It has achieved great success as a night ﬁghter

THE BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER, BRITAIN’S DEADLY TWIN-ENGINE FIGHTER

Fig. 19. Drawing of the principal parts of the Bristol Beauﬁghter twin-engine two-seat ﬁghter. This aircraft is a mid-wing monoplane powered by two 1,400 h.p. Bristol Hercules III engines which give it a maximum speed of about 330 miles per hour. It is the most heavily armed ﬁghter at present on active service in the world, having four 20-mm. cannon mounted in the nose below the pilot and six machine guns in the wings outboard of the engines. Plentiful supplies of ammunition are carried, and the loading is done by the second member of the crew who sits behind the pilot. The “Beau,” as it is known in the R.A.F., is larger than the Blenheim and is easily recognizable by its short nose and large protruding engines

BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER

The Beauﬁghter (Figs. 18 and 19) is a product of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., and is in a class by itself because of its very heavy armament and high speed. It is a mid-wing monoplane powered by two Bristol Hercules radial engines which give it a top speed well in excess of 300 miles per hour. Particulars of range and ceiling are still secret. It is the most powerfully armed ﬁghter at present on active service in the world, having four 20-mm. cannon mounted in the nose below the pilot and six machine guns in the wings outboard of the engines. The pilot has a selector switch and can ﬁre either the machine guns or the cannon separately, or both at once. Plentiful supplies of ammunition are carried, and the loading is done by the second member of the crew who sits beneath an astrodome behind the pilot. The effect upon another aircraft of this terriﬁc ﬁre power has to be seen to be believed. No aircraft, however heavily armoured, can stand up to it, and with accurate shooting a target generally blows up or falls to pieces within a few seconds, often before the crew have had time to use their parachutes. More than one Beauﬁghter has come back to its base damaged after an engagement because it has been hit by ﬂying debris from the machine it had attacked and “blown to pieces.”

The “Beau,” as it is called, is larger than the Blenheim and is easily recognizable by its short nose and unusually large, protruding engines. It is difficult to compare the “Beau” with any enemy aircraft. The nearest comparison would be a cross between the Junkers 88 and the Me 110, but it is faster than the 88 and heavier than the 110.

Beauﬁghters have been used mainly for night ﬁghting where they have done more damage than any other aircraft, but they have also been used with great success by Coastal Command and for long range ﬁghting in the Middle East.

DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO

Fig. 22. The famous Mosquito twin-engined long range ﬁghter or bomber. Constructed of wood, it has a maximum speed of well over 400 miles per hour. Its wing span is 54 feet 2 inches and its length is 40 feet 9½ inches. It is powered by two Rolls Royce Merlin engines and its offensive armament usually consists of four 20 mm. cannon and four .303 machine guns

MOSQUITO

Little can be said about the Mosquito at present except that it has been disclosed as being operational both as a day bomber and ﬁghter (Fig. 22). It has bombed Berlin and Oslo as well as places in Holland, which gives some idea of its range. It is in operation as a long range ﬁghter from Malta. It has a wing span of 54 feet 2 inches, a length of 40 feet 9½ inches and is armed with four 20 mm. cannon and four .303 machine guns. Its power and speed come from two of the latest type Rolls Royce engines. It is made entirely of wood, a reversion to earlier practice which came as a surprise when it was ﬁrst announced. The use of wood had meant a great saving in weight and, curiously, wood does not burn so freely as the metal in some of the stretched skin constructions. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it does not break up so quickly under the stress of furious heat. The Mosquito, designed and built by the de Havilland Company, is a development of the twin engined “Comet” which won the England to Australia race when piloted by C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black. The pilot and observer sit side by side in the nose, where the cannon are carried.

The Germans have attempted to produce an aircraft equivalent to the Mosquito by developing the Me110 and bringing out the Me210. Its performance, however, falls short of that of the Mosquito. The Me210 is said to have a speed of 380 miles an hour at 18,000 feet, ten miles an hour faster than the Me109F. Its all up weight is 21,350 lbs. and it carries a bomb load of 2,200 lbs. The increased weight over the Me110 is accounted for by 900 lbs. of armour plating. It carries six guns, two ﬁxed 7.9 mm. two Mauser 20 mm. and two 13 mm. guns controlled by the rear gunner, who is also wireless operator. The bomb compartment is in the nose of the fuselage underneath the pilot’s cockpit. Very considerable quantities of ammunition are carried. For dive bombing, the Me210 uses hydraulically operated dive-brakes which ingeniously fold ﬂush into the top and bottom surfaces of each wing during normal ﬂight. Wing span is 53 ft. 9 ins., length 40 ft. 3 ins. It has two Daimler-Benz 601-F1 engines which are an improvement on those in the Me110.

ME. 110

The Me110 was perhaps the most successful twin-engined ﬁghter possessed by the Germans. This is a low wing cantilever monoplane powered by two 1,150 h.p. Daimler-Benz engines. The pilot is accommodated in a cockpit forward of the leading edge, and the rear gunner over the trailing edge, provision for the navigator being made immediately behind the pilot. All crew space is covered by a continuous transparent hood. The Me 110 has a top speed of 360 miles per hour at 16,000 feet, a ceiling of 35,000 feet and a range of 1,500 miles. In common with the Spitﬁre it is an excellent aircraft both in performance and in handling qualities. A good single-seater should always beat a good multi-seater in a dog ﬁght, but though it is outmatched both in performance and manoeuvrability by the Spitﬁre, and in manoeuvrability by the Hurricane, the fact that it is a better aircraft than many of the world’s single-seaters, and almost equal to the best, makes it outstanding.

The armament of the no consists of two 20-mm. cannon in the nose and below the pilot, and four riﬂe calibre machine guns mounted to ﬁre aft. It is known that a much larger type gun was ﬁtted in some 110’s but was discontinued probably because of trouble from stoppages. The cannon, like those of the Beauﬁghter, can be loaded from inside the fuselage by the navigator. Bomb racks can be ﬁtted under the centre section on each side of the fuselage.

The Germans possess another twin-engine ﬁghter in the Focke-Wulf 187, also known as the Zerstoerer. It is powered by two 1,150 h.p. Daimler-Benz engines, and the radiators are placed well forward beneath the engines. Unlike most aircraft, its maximum speed is believed to be attained at sea level and to be about 360 miles per hour. It has a high service ceiling of 37,000 feet. It has not, however, proved particularly successful and operationally has been little seen. The most noticeable features for identiﬁcation are its single ﬁn, large narrow fuselage, narrow pencil-shaped nose stopping at a point just short of the engines, and large spinners which do not come to a point but have a ﬂattened tip.

The armament is six ﬁxed riﬂe calibre machine guns and two 20-mm. cannon in the nose. One free machine gun is operated by the rear gunner. This aircraft should be more in evidence in the future.

BOULTON PAUL DEFIANT

Fig. 20. The Deﬁant is a single-engined two-seater ﬁghter with an armament of four machine guns in a power operated turret. It was used with very marked success as a night ﬁghter

DETAILS OF THE DEFIANT

Fig. 21. General layout and constructional details of the Deﬁant. This aircraft is thought to have a top speed of about 300 m.p.h. and employs tactics that are quite diﬂerent from those of ﬁxed-gun ﬁghters. It has no ﬁxed guns, all the shooting being done by the-air gunner

Until recently Britain used extensively one type of ﬁghter which was unique. This was the Boulton and Paul Deﬁant single engine, two-seater ﬁghter (Figs. 20 and 21). It is a low wing, cantilever monoplane, powered, like the Spitﬁre and the Hurricane, by a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. It was one of the few single engine, two-seater ﬁghters in use with the R.A.F. It ﬁrst became prominent over Dunkirk, then did good work in the Battle of Britain and subsequently, throughout the long months of the night “blitzes” it was used with great success as a night ﬁghter. Squadrons equipped with Deﬁants not only took part in the defence of London at that time, but of many of the great industrial centres of the Midlands and the North, and shared with Beauﬁghters the honour of forcing the Germans to give up concentrated, heavy night attacks. They are now, however, becoming obsolete.

The pilot of the Deﬁant sits in an enclosed cockpit on the forward part of the wing with his gunner in a Boulton Paul power operated turret immediately behind him. The turret contains four .300 calibre Browning machine guns and has a 360 degrees’ traverse. An interrupter gear is ﬁtted which prevents the gunner from hitting any part of his own aircraft. The fuselage decking behind the turret retracts to allow the turret to rotate.

Comparison with other ﬁghters is difficult as the tactics employed by the Deﬁant are entirely different from those of normal ﬁxed-gun ﬁghters. Full details of its performance are not available, but it is thought the maximum speed is in the neighbourhood of 300 miles per hour.

No mention is made in this chapter of the many types of interceptor and twin-engine ﬁghters which have been supplied to Britain by the United States of America. These include the Bell Airacobra, the Curtiss Tomahawk and Kittyhawk, the Mustang, Lockheed Lightning and the Havoc. They are fully described and illustrated later on, in Chapter 13.

Before the war there was quite a discussion as to whether stressed-skin metal wings would stand up to the ﬁre of the modern machine gun or the modern shell gun, and there was also some reason to doubt whether they would stand up to the effect of anti-aircraft ﬁre. Many experts said the fabric would stand the racket better. However, the stressed-skin has fully proved itself and has shown that aircraft built in this way can stand very heavy punishment. Even so, as previously explained, one of the most successful aircraft yet designed and produced by Britain, the Mosquito, is of wooden construction.

HAWKER TYPHOON

The Hawker Typhoon is a recent recruit to the armoury of Fighter Command. It is powered by a 2,400 h.p. Napier Sabre engine and has a top speed of more than 400 miles an hour. Its powerful armament consists of four 20 mm. cannon or twelve machine guns. Under each wing is carried a 500 lb. bomb with thin casing, having twice the blasting power of ordinary bombs

A new development which may favourably affect the speed of production of aircraft in the near future is the use of plastic material, experiments on which are now intensively taking place. There is apparently a promise that this type of structure will not only prove easier and quicker in manufacture, but will also stand up against weather and enemy ﬁre, equally well with, or perhaps better than, the stressed-skin metal structures. It is also claimed that these new plastic materials, especially when based on a wood foundation, will actually prove considerably stronger, weight for weight, than equivalent metal structures.

The development of ﬁghter aircraft under the stimulus of war proceeds at a terrifying pace. The race for aerial supremacy is a grim one. Speeds are continually increasing, and each new aircraft ﬂies higher than its predecessor. Guns become yet more deadly and more accurate. How far can such progress, if progress it can be called, go? When will the human factor call it to a halt? These are questions that only the future can answer.

PARTICULARS AND PERFORMANCE DATA OF SIX TYPES OF BRITISH FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

NIGHT FIGHTER PILOTS STAND BY

The night ﬁghter pilots above are in the dispersal hut of a ﬁghter station where they are awaiting the call to action. They are wearing most of their ﬂying clothing so as to be ready to take the air at a moment’s notice. The dark goggles are worn to adapt their eyes to the darkness. Once in the air they are guided into contact with the enemy by radio telephone

[Courtesy of Life Magazine]

CHAPTER 7

Fighter Pilots and Fighter Tactics

Advanced training unit. Types of advanced trainers. Gravitational forces. Blacking out and red vision. Aerobatics and formation ﬂying. Operational training unit. Rubber dinghies. Baling out. Flying operational aircraft. Use of oxygen. Camera gun practice. Air-to-ground gunnery. Methods of attack. The ﬁrst kill. Oﬂensive sweeps. Attacks on shipping. Fighter-bombers. Night ﬁghters. Pilots’ reports

In Chapter 3 we followed the fortunes of John Smith and went with him through the various stages of his training, until, as a fully qualiﬁed pilot, he went to an operational training unit to complete his training on heavy bombers.

Not all pilots, however, want to ﬂy bombers. Indeed, it is probably true to say that the lure of the high-speed ﬁghter is stronger than that of the bomber, and that more pilots start their ﬂying career with the ambition of becoming ﬁghter pilots than pilots of any other type.

CHOICE OF PILOTS

However, as their ﬂying training proceeds, their instructors, who are no mean psychologists, can usually pick out the men best suited for the various types of ﬂying. They weigh up the temperaments and special qualiﬁcations and abilities of each man who comes under their care, and make a detailed report to the powers that be. Although consideration is given to the pilot’s own wishes in the matter, very often it is considered that a man who wants to be a ﬁghter pilot would be far more useful at the controls of, say, a bomber or a reconnaissance plane, and in such cases the decision of the commanding ofﬁcer, which is based, of course, on the full reports of the man’s ﬂying career to date, must be accepted as ﬁnal.

All pilots start their career in the same way—they begin at the receiving wing, then they go to an initial training squadron, then to an elementary ﬂying training school. It is after they have completed their course at the E.F.T.S. that they reach the parting of the ways, the bomber pilot, as we have seen, continuing his training on twin-engine machines such as the Airspeed Oxford, and the embryo ﬁghter pilot on fast single-engine trainers such as Miles Masters or North American Harvards.

The ﬁghter pilot on arriving at an advanced training unit is introduced to these new types of machines. He ﬁnds them altogether different from the tiny Moths or Magisters which he ﬂew at the E.F.T.S. They are much bigger and faster, and are equipped with all the complicated peraphernalia with which the ﬁghter pilot must become fully conversant before he is qualiﬁed to go into action in a Spitﬁre or a Hurricane.

MILES MASTER ADVANCED TRAINERS

Fig. 1 (above). Miles Master I advanced trainer. This aircraft contains practically all the equipment found on operational types of ﬁghters and is an ideal machine for introducing pilots to the new technique of high-speed ﬂying. It is powered by a 585 h.p. Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine which gives it a top speed of 250 miles per hour. It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane of wood construction, and has a retractable undercarriage and a three blade constant-speed wooden airscrew. The Master II, Fig. 2 (below), is similar to the Mk. I version except that it has a Bristol Mercury radial engine which gives it a higher top speed

MILES MASTER

The Miles Master is the fastest training machine in use by any air force in the world. It is a cantilever low-wing monoplane of wood construction with enclosed cockpits in tandem, and is ﬁtted with a specially acting undercarriage that turns and retracts backwards into the wings. The power unit of the Master I (Fig. 1) is a single 585 h.p. Rolls-Royce Kestrel XXX engine which gives it a maximum speed of 250 miles per hour. The Master II (Fig. 2), with its Bristol Mercury engine, is even faster. The Master, like all other trainer machines, is ﬁtted with dual controls and is painted bright yellow on its under surfaces.

INSTRUMENT PANEL OF MILES MASTER

Fig. 3. Illustration showing dials and gauges on the instrument panel of the Master. The numbers indicate 1, ﬂaps position indicator; 2, airspeed indicator correction card; 3, speaking tube connexion; 4, reﬂector sight lamp socket; 5, reﬂector dimmer switch; 6 and 10, cockpit lamps dimmer switch, port and starboard; 7, undercarriage position indicator; 8, instrument ﬂying hood release; 9, engine revolution indicator; 11, signalling switch box; 12, main magneto switches and undercarriage indicator switch; 13, oxygen regulator; 14, airspeed indicator; 15, artiﬁcial horizon; 16, rate of climb indicator; 17, oil temperature thermometer; 18, oil pressure gauge; 19, boost pressure gauge; 20, fuel pressure gauge; 21, cockpit lamp; 22, landing lamps switch; 23, time of ﬂight clock; 24, altimeter; 25, directional gyroscope; 26, turn and bank indicator; 27 and 28, fuel contents indicators, port and starboard tanks; 29, ﬁre extinguisher switch; 30, bomb selector switches; 31, radiator ﬂap indicator; 32, bomb jettison switch; 33, oil cock; 34, starting magneto switch; 35, priming pump; 36, pneumatic system pressure gauge; 37, radiator temp. gauge; 38, fuel contents indicator switch; 39, brake pressure gauge; 40, hydraulic system pressure gauge; 41, control box; 42, radiator ﬂap control; 43, compass

NORTH AMERICAN HARVARD TRAINERS

Fig. 4. The Harvard, although slower than the Master, is an excellent training aircraft. It is of metal construction and is powered by a 600 h.p. Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine which gives it a top speed of 209 miles per hour. It has a service ceiling of 24,000 feet. The pilots above are receiving ﬁnal hints on map reading before going up on a cross-country ﬂight

The North American Harvard trainer (Fig. 4) is also widely used for training our ﬁghter pilots. Although it is considerably slower than the Master, it is an excellent machine for the purpose. Like the Master, it is a low-wing cantilever monoplane; it is of all-metal stressed-skin construction, and its 600 h.p. Pratt and Whitney engine gives it a maximum speed of 209 miles per hour. The undercarriage retracts inwards. It can be easily recognized in ﬂight by the swept back leading edges of the wings and the straight trailing edges. These, then, are the machines in which the ﬁghter pilot gets his ﬁrst real taste of high-speed ﬂying. They are the last rung on the ladder leading to the latest types of ﬁghting planes which he will ﬂy in operations against the enemy. After the little initial trainers to which he has been accustomed, the budding ﬁghter pilot ﬁnds the advanced trainer rather a formidable proposition—at ﬁrst at any rate. The imposing array of gauges, dials and levers that ornament the instrument panel impress him considerably—the Master, for example, has forty-three (Fig. 3)—and he wonders whether he will ever be able to check up on them all and still ﬁnd time to ﬂy the machine. His fears, however, are soon put at rest, for he ﬁnds that, with the aid of the excellent system of memorizing the ﬂying procedure used in the Service, he is, before long, scarcely conscious of them at all.

The pilot is astonished when his instructor takes him up for his ﬁrst trial “ﬂip” in an advanced trainer, at the tremendous rate of acceleration. He notes with interest the increased angle of climb and the higher take-off and landing speeds. This ﬁrst ﬂight is, of course, only an “experience” ﬂight, its object being merely to give the pilot an introduction to this rather different form of ﬂying. The instructor chats away to him through the intercommunication telephone and from time to time draws his attention to various general points of interest regarding the aircraft and its behaviour, taking care not to say too much at ﬁrst for fear of confusing his new pupil.

REAR SEAT OF THE MASTER

The rear seat of the Master is specially designed so that it can be raised by the occupant, thus bringing his head above the normal line of the fuselage and providing an excellent view when landing and taking off. The folding windscreen, shown above, which forms part of the cabin top, protects the pilot’s face when the seat is raised. The rudder bar is also adjustable

Before the pilot is actually allowed to handle the controls of the new machine he attends lectures and learns much he did not know about high-speed ﬂying. He is initiated into the mysteries of the retractable undercarriage, and told that the ﬁrst thing he must do on taking off is to retract it so as not to retard the rate of acceleration. He is also told that it is very much better, should he have to make a forced landing on difﬁcult ground, to do so with the undercarriage pulled up, for if he were to hit an obstacle with it down it is almost certain that the plane would overturn with serious consequences both to himself and his aircraft. With the undercarriage in the retracted position, however, he could “pancake” his aircraft to earth and in all probability get away with nothing worse than a bit of a shaking and perhaps a bent or twisted airscrew.

With the passing of time the pilot is allowed to ﬂy the aircraft, and he goes through very much the same procedure as he did on the Moth at the E.F.T.S. The instructor corrects his faults, makes him do numerous circuits of the aerodrome, landing and taking off until he has completely mastered the feel of the new aircraft and is thoroughly proﬁcient.

“BLACKOUT” AND “REDOUT” EXPLAINED

Fig. 5. When changing direction at high speeds, pilots are subjected to considerable gravitational forces which may cause them momentarily either to lose their vision or to see red. These phenomena are known in the R.A.F. as “blackout” and “redout”, and the reasons for their occurrence are explained diagrammatically in the above illustration

As soon as a pilot goes over to high-speed aircraft he makes the acquaintance of the mysterious symbol “g,” which stands for the acceleration due to gravity. When ﬂattening out after a dive, or making a short radius turn he is conscious of the feeling of being pressed hard into his seat. The faster he goes, the greater the force, and when it is explained to him that a ﬁghter pilot may have to withstand retardations of as much as ﬁve or six “g,” he realizes why he had to undergo such a thorough medical examination before being accepted.

These great forces to which the pilot is subjected naturally place a considerable physical strain upon him, and he may experience the phenomena of “blackout” and “redout.” Both of these are brought about by centrifugal forces induced by rapid changes of direction at high speed. In the case of the former, if the pilot makes a very tight turn, or ﬂattens out rapidly after a dive, the blood tends to be forced from his head, particularly from behind the eyes, for a split second, during which time he cannot see.

Redding out is caused in exactly the same way, but it occurs only when the pilot changes direction with his head on the outside of the turn, as in the case of an inverted loop or the start of a dive. This, instead of drawing the blood away from the head as in the case of blackout, causes it to rush to the head, and it may cause slight haemorrhage of the blood vessels behind the eyes which accounts for the red vision. Both these phenomena are illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 5.

To the new pilot blacking out and redding out may sound somewhat alarming, but they are not as bad as they sound. Pilots vary considerably in their resistance to these forces.

It is not long before the pilot is thoroughly at home with the advanced trainer and is throwing it about in the air, making it do just what he wants it to, supremely conﬁdent in his new-found prowess. He practises turning and aerobatics, paying particular attention to spins and how to get out of them. He is now starting to learn advanced aerobatics, which form an essential part of the training of a ﬁghter pilot. Not only may many of the aerobatics he learns be of use to him in actual combat, but also they are excellent training in handling the aircraft and they give the pilot a feeling of conﬁdence. Amongst other manoeuvres he learns how to loop, roll, half roll off the top of a loop and do stall turns. He is also told how to do the tail glide and falling leaf, but these are merely fancy manoeuvres used for display purposes. Pilots are told what these manoeuvres are and are told not to do them.

FLYING IN CLOSE FORMATION

Formation ﬂying is one of the most difficult things the pilot has to learn. It requires great concentration, and for that reason the early periods of instruction are short. The Hurricanes seen above are in close formation, which is normally used for drill purposes. Other formations are often adopted when aircraft are ﬂying together on active operations against the enemy

FORMATIONS ADOPTED BY FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Fig. 6. Some of the best-known formations used by ﬁghter aircraft are illustrated above. They are all designed so that each machine can give ﬁre support to the one in front

HURRICANES IN V-FORMATION

Fig. 7. In V-formation the leader takes station at the apex. Each machine has a number, even ones being on leader’s right and odd ones on his left. The following aircraft keep station by dressing with the opposite number. Formations may take off as such or be formed in the air

ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE ENEMY FIVE MILES ABOVE THE EARTH

High above the clouds, in a world of astonishing beauty, a Hurricane squadron is on the lookout for enemy aircraft. Should a bandit be seen the squadron leader will detail a section of two aircraft to attack and, if possible, destroy the enemy. During the flight the leader of the formation keeps in constant communication with his base by means of the radio telephone

TYPES OF FORMATIONS

When he is complete master of his machine the pilot learns to ﬂy in formation. This, at ﬁrst, is extremely difficult and requires considerable concentration, so his early periods of instruction are of short duration.

Various types of formations (Fig. 6) are used in the R.A.F. They have the object of enabling groups of aircraft to ﬂy together in an orderly manner and most of them are designed so that each aircraft can give ﬁre support to the one in front. The V (Fig. 7) is perhaps the commonest, and in this the aircraft each have a number. The leader ﬂies at the apex, and the other aircraft are numbered alternately backwards on each side of the leader, even numbers being on his right and odd numbers on his left.

Formation ﬂying in the R.A.F. has been brought to an exceedingly ﬁne art, and an elaborate drill has been evolved. Formations may be either open or close, but it is usual, for drill purposes at any rate, to ﬂy in close formation. This is valuable training in distance gauging and undoubtedly accounts for the wonderfully precise way in which formations of the R.A.F. keep together and move or change direction as one. In wartime, of course, more open formations may be necessary in order to reduce the danger from concentrations of A.A. ﬁre.

In formation ﬂying the leader sets the pace. Those that follow take up their place behind him on each arm of the V and keep station by dressing with the opposite number. The pilots ﬂy on their throttles, slightly adjusting them the whole time—opening up a bit if they see they are falling back, and easing back a little if they get too far ahead. At ﬁrst it is rather difﬁcult, but after constant practice it becomes second nature.

Formations sometimes take off and land together, or they may be formed when in the air. The smallest formation is the section of two machines, a leader and one aircraft; the next smallest formation is a ﬂight of three machines, a leader and two aircraft. The section is the tactical unit in battle, and the squadron, which consists of six sections, may ﬂy in sections in line astern in three lines (Fig. 8) or in ﬂights in V. Aircraft may also ﬂy in line abreast or line astern, or they may adopt the rather more complicated diamond or box formations, according to whatever the circumstances may be.

SECTIONS IN LINE ASTERN

Fig. 8. The section of two aircraft is the tactical unit of the R.A.F. in battle. Above, a squadron, which consists of six sections, is seen ﬂying in line astern in three lines

FLYING IN SECTIONS

When ﬂying in sections, if the leader saw an odd enemy aircraft, he would call up a section and detail it to attack. Two aircraft would leave the formation, returning to it again only after having completed or failed in their task. During the whole period of the ﬂight the formation would have scouting planes weaving behind it, that is, crossing from side to side, to prevent surprise attack (Fig. 9).

WEAVING TACTICS OF FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Fig. 9. During the whole period of ﬂight a formation, however large, turns or “weaves” from side to side. This makes it difficult for enemy aircraft to approach the formation without being seen. Scouting planes are seen here weaving in the rear of a formation of ﬁghters. They keep a lookout for enemy aircraft which they might miss if they ﬂew along a straight course

Having completed his advanced training, our ﬁghter pilot to be is now a fully qualiﬁed pilot, but he is not yet operational, and to complete his training, he is next posted to an operational training unit or O.T.U. The term “a fully qualiﬁed pilot,” only means that he has completed his general training as a pilot, not that he knows all there is to know about ﬂying—if he ﬂew for a hundred years he would still have plenty to learn. Like the sailor, he soon learns that just when he thinks he knows all there is to know, the elements will show him something he had never seen before just to keep him from becoming over-conﬁdent, and like the sailor, he learns in the hard school of experience. A pilot cannot be considered really experienced until he has ﬂown for at least 500 hours. Over-conﬁdence is watched for by instructors even more than inability, because it is more difficult to discern and equally dangerous, if not more so, to the person concerned. If you ever meet a pilot who tells you that “ﬂying is a piece of cake” you can be sure that sooner or later (unless he is lucky enough to have time to change his opinion) that pilot will kill himself. But we must return to our pilot waiting so patiently to go to his O.T.U.

If our young man is lucky he will probably have had seven days’ leave on ﬁnishing his advanced training, and will arrive at his O.T.U. fresh for still more instruction. On his ﬁrst day most of the time will be spent ﬁnding a room for himself, depositing his baggage, being interviewed by the station commander, station adjutant, and ﬁnally the chief ground instructor (C.G.I. to you). He will allocate them to a ﬂight or ﬂights and tell them the general layout of the station.

RUBBER DINGHIES

Leaving the C.G.I.’s office the members of the course go over to the stores to collect any articles of ﬂying kit they may not possess. Now that they are becoming operational they will have to add several articles to their already ample wardrobe. They will be issued with “Mae West” lifebelts to keep them aﬂoat should they come down in the sea, and a dainty little package, only 15 inches square by 3 inches thick will be added to their parachute packs. This is the self-inﬂating rubber dinghy that is now part of the standard equipment of British ﬁghter pilots. It is a masterpiece of compression and besides the action boat itself there are paddles, sea anchors, iron rations and other necessary gear. It will support a weight of 400 lb. and many a pilot has had good reason to be glad of this piece of equipment. Fig. 10 shows the ﬁghter pilot’s equipment together with the dinghy (illustrated in Fig. 11), which also acts as a cushion for the pilot.

EQUIPMENT WORN BY A FIGHTER PILOT

Fig. 10. The full equipment of a ﬁghter pilot is heavier than that of an infantryman, and weighs about 60 lb. The drawing above shows the various items of clothing and equipment worn by ﬁghter pilots, with (inset) details of the parachute harness quick release box

RUBBER DINGHY FOR FIGHTER PILOTS

Fig. 11. Particulars of the self-inﬂating rubber dinghy which forms part of the equipment of ﬁghter pilots. When folded it is attached to the parachute pack as shown in Fig. 10, and acts as a cushion for the pilot; it measures only 15 inches square by 3 inches thick, and can support a weight of 400 lb. It is equipped with paddles, rations, and other gear

Although our ﬁghter pilot has now received his full equipment and has had thorough instruction in its use, his knowledge as regards his parachute will be theoretical only. Pilots are told how to bale out during their training, but they are not required to do an actual drop. This pleasure is reserved for a later date when, perhaps as a result of enemy action, they will have to “jump for it.”

Baling out of a high-speed aircraft is no mean feat, for the tremendous pressure of air tends to hold the pilot ﬁrmly in his seat. Before he can leave his aircraft, therefore, he must either slow it up or, as is often the case, turn it upside down and fall out. Once clear the pilot must wait a few seconds before pulling the ripcord, otherwise his ’chute might become entangled in the aircraft with fatal results. The art of making a parachute descent is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 12.

HOW A PILOT BALES OUT

Fig. 12. Diagram showing how an airman makes a parachute descent. Fighter pilots when they want to leave their machines usually turn them on their backs and fall out. Before doing so they must disconnect the oxygen tubes and telephone cables from their helmets

To go back to our young man; let us call him Sergeant Jones. He now knows that he is a member of Course 22, and that he is to report to Flight Lieutenant Brown, O.C. “A” Flight, at 8.30 next morning. Until then, as it is the ﬁrst day, his time is his own.

Duly at 08.30 hours Sergeant Jones presents himself for interview with his new ﬂight commander. After a short talk he is told to get into his ﬂying kit and to climb into a Master waiting on the tarmac. Flight Lieutenant Brown soon follows and, settling himself the second cockpit, tells Jones that he wants to ﬂy with him for half an hour or so. Jones starts up his engine and, having warmed it up and tested his switches, waves his chocks away, taxies into wind and takes off. For the next thirty minutes Jones shows his ﬂight commander how good or bad a pilot he is. We will assume that the O.C. is satisﬁed with Jones’s progress, for when he lands he is told to go up on his own for an hour or so to get used to the air again after his leave.

In the afternoon his big moment arrives and he is detailed to do an hour’s circuits and landings and local ﬂying in a Spitﬁre. As Jones has been trained progressively on several types of aircraft, each one slightly faster and more complicated than the last, his switch from trainers to an operational aircraft is not such a violent change as it might have been; nevertheless his ﬁrst take off in a Spitﬁre is something of a revelation.

His ﬁrst few take-offs and landings will be watched from the ground by his ﬂight commander, but never again will he have any one in the back to tell him when he makes a mistake. From now on his operational training follows in a natural sequence; local ﬂying, formation ﬂying, cross countries, aerobatics, and target practice at ground targets and at “drogues,” which are sleeve targets towed behind another aircraft.

TARGET FOR PRACTICE SHOOTING

A great deal of the ﬁghter pilot’s time at his O.T.U., and later in his squadron, is spent in carrying out practice machine gun attacks on sleeve targets, or “drogues” as they are called, similar to that seen above, which is being towed behind a Hawker Henley target-towing aircraft

He soon ﬁnds out what a magniﬁcent aircraft the Spitﬁre is and how beautifully it handles; and that except for the fact that everything happens rather more rapidly than it did in a Master, things are not so very difﬁcult, which, after all, is the aim of progressive training. He learns to accustom himself to map reading while covering the ground at a high speed, and also from altitudes of 20,000 feet or more. He is shown why oxygen is necessary at high altitudes, taught how to use his oxygen equipment (Fig. 13), and is sent up to practise ﬂying at 30,000 feet.

OXYGEN EQUIPMENT IN A MODERN FIGHTER

Fig. 13. Diagram showing arrangement of oxygen breathing apparatus for high-altitude ﬂying. The gas is carried in high-pressure bottles and inhaled by the pilot through a mask

He turns on his oxygen as soon as he has taken off, and begins to climb. Every 5,000 feet he turns the tap of his oxygen regulator to increase his supply as the oxygen in the air decreases; as he climbs up he notices that the air becomes clear and that the sky is a vivid Mediterranean blue; higher still he ﬁnds it difficult to do a “tight” turn until he gets used to the “loose” and sloppy feeling of his controls, due to the rareﬁed air. Jones gets used to ﬂying at this height for twenty minutes or so and starts his descent, not too rapidly, and swallowing every now and then to even out the pressure on his ear drums. When he gets down to about 1,000 feet, he ﬂies around the aerodrome for a few minutes to accustom himself to the nearness of the ground, for if he came down from, say 30,000 feet and landed quickly, he would probably misjudge his height, and land badly.

CAMERA GUN PRACTICE

As the days pass Sergeant Jones ﬁnds more of his time taken up with formation ﬂying and camera gun practice. The camera gun is a cine-camera mounted in the wing, which is sighted like a normal gun and takes pictures when the ﬁring button is pressed. He has been shown the best methods of attacking aircraft under varying conditions. The astern attack, the beam and quarter attacks, the head-on attack and variations of all four (Fig. 14); and the safest method of “breaking away” when the attack is ﬁnished. His armament lectures teach him just what deﬂection shooting means, and how much deﬂection should be allowed under varying conditions; then he is sent up on camera gun practice.

ATTACKS ON ENEMY BOMBERS

Fig. 14. The method of attack is dictated by such factors as the defensive armour and position of armament of the target. The pilot therefore must have a knowledge of the characteristics of enemy aircraft. The diagram shows how front (A), rear (B), and beam (C) attacks are made

For camera gun practice, aircraft take off in pairs; ﬁrst one aircraft will act as target and the other will practise attacks on him. When the attacking pilot has ﬁnished his ﬁlm, he tells his companion that he is ready to act as target and the procedure is reversed.

Sergeant Jones takes off on his ﬁrst camera gun ﬂight, and quickly ﬁnds, that he needs all his new-found skill to complete anything faintly resembling the attacks he had been shown; however, by the time he has ﬁnished his ﬁlm he begins to think he has done quite well, and by the time he lands, he feels quite conﬁdent that his results will be all they should be.

SEEING THE RESULTS

When he has landed and has “switched off,” the camera gun is unloaded and the spool of ﬁlm taken to the photography section to be developed. The next day Sergeant Jones is shown his ﬁlm by the armament instructor. Several exposures show masses of white cloud, or a large expanse of blue sky, but no trace of the target aircraft. Jones begins to think that all is not as it should be, when, on or about the ﬁfteenth exposure he sees a small speck: “I got him there all right,” he says brightening visibly. “You might, if you’d been using a 4.7 and your target had been standing still,” replies his instructor, and shows Jones that he has been opening ﬁre at about 800 yards range instead of 200 to 300, and also that he has been using no deﬂection, though the target was travelling across his sights at 200 miles per hour. So on through the ﬁlm the instructor showing his pupil his faults and telling him how to correct them.

When Sergeant Jones ﬁnally joins a squadron and goes on an operation he will ﬁnd another use for his camera gun. It will take pictures when he has an engagement and the roll of ﬁlm will help the Intelligence Officer to assess whether he completely destroyed his enemy or only “probably” did so. If he brings back ﬁlm showing an aircraft dramatically breaking up in the air under the impact of his bullets, he may see that ﬁlm later in the newsreel at his local cinema. A photograph taken by an aircraft camera gun appears later.

USING LIVE AMMUNITION

The ﬁrst time Jones ﬁres his guns he will be on air-to-ground practice—that is ﬁring from the air at square fabric-covered targets. He is thrilled at the prospect of shooting off some ammunition and is not quite certain what will happen.

He makes his way to the air ﬁring ranges and sees the target looking about the size of a postage stamp; he sees that it is all clear for him to ﬁre, he gets into position, puts the aircraft into a slight dive towards the target and gets his sights on; when he thinks he is within range, he presses his ﬁring button: nothing happens. Jones pulls out of the dive and looks around the cockpit to see what’s wrong; eventually he ﬁnds that his ﬁring button is on “safe.” If you could see him at this moment, his face would be very red. But luckily no one is there to share his embarrassment. He gets into position again, this time making sure his button is on “ﬁre” and starts another dive. Now when he presses the button he hears a dull noise like a piece of calico being ripped, and sees the sand spurt up ten yards to the left of his target. He ceases to ﬁre, pulls out of his dive and goes round again. This time he will probably be a little nearer, and so on, until eventually he gets his bullets all round the target.

We have assumed that Jones’s aircraft is armed with machine guns. If he had cannon, the effect on ﬁring would be different. He would feel the aircraft shaking considerably and hear a succession of sharp heavy bangs while large holes would appear around the target, throwing up clods of earth or lumps of sand high into the air.

Once he has got used to a new type of aircraft, a great deal of a pilot’s time at his O.T.U. and later in his squadron, is spent on carrying out practice attacks on aircraft and air ﬁring on “drogues.” For the reader’s beneﬁt we will now explain why more than one method of attack is necessary, and the factors which decide the use of any particular attack.

The main aim of any attack is to destroy the target aircraft. The secondary aim is to attack from a position, or in such a manner that the target has least chance of retaliating. Obviously therefore the method of attack will depend on many factors: the type and numbers of aircraft to be attacked, the number of ﬁghter aircraft carrying out the attack, the defensive armour and armament of the target, and, not least, whether the attackers have time to chose a favourable position.

AIMING AT THE ENEMY

Fig. 15. Diagram showing when the pilot presses the gun button for (top) a full deﬂection shot; (centre) threequarter to half-deﬂection shot; and (bottom) no deﬂection shot

RECOGNIZING THE TARGET

To begin with, a ﬁghter pilot must have a detailed knowledge of all the characteristics of any enemy aircraft he is likely to encounter. The easiest method of attacking and hitting an aircraft is to approach from directly behind and on the same level. This gives the ﬁghter pilot a no deﬂection shot (Fig. 15) and has been responsible for the introduction of the tail gunner in big bombers. From behind the pilot has a steady sight on his target, can regulate his speed of approach, has plenty of time to decide when to ﬁre, and can keep on ﬁring until the target is shot down or he runs out of ammunition. This method of attack in its simple form can be used against aircraft which have little or no defence against an astern attack, such as single-seat ﬁghters or single aircraft with poor armament and armour. However, single-seat ﬁghters have a mirror mounted on their windscreen to enable them to see behind them to a certain extent; and multi-seater aircraft have someone to tell the pilot of the attacker’s approach and are also very heavily armoured against this form of attack. Therefore in order to attack unseen and in a vulnerable place, the approach under ideal conditions would be from astern and slightly underneath, where the target’s tail plane would obviously hide the attacker from view.

The only other no deﬂection shot, that is the position from which a pilot can shoot with his target in the middle of his sights, is from “head on.” From all other positions the pilot must aim ahead of his target, the amount varying with the angle of approach and the range. This is illustrated in Fig. 15.

Large numbers of bombers in close formation present a difﬁcult target to attack from astern owing to the amount of cross ﬁre they can bring to bear on the ﬁghters, who can probably only approach one or two at a time. Under these circumstances the head-on attack is used tobreak up the bomber formation. The head-on attack is extremely difficult to execute, and as the target is only at the correct range for a very short time, only a short burst can be ﬁred at it.

When two aircraft are approaching each other at a relative speed in the neighbourhood of 600 miles per hour, the time taken to cover 400 yards, which is the range at which the ﬁghter will open ﬁre, is about one and a half seconds, so almost as soon as the ﬁghter pilot has pressed his ﬁre button he has to pull up or turn to avoid colliding head on with the bomber. From this the perfection of timing necessary for a successful head-on attack will be appreciated. A well-executed head-on attack is more effective than any other, bullets striking the bombers in their most vulnerable areas, generally hitting the pilots, and the moral effect by itself is enough to make the most hardened bomber pilot endeavour to get out of the way. And so the formation is broken up and the bombers may then be attacked individually.

Attacks are also carried out from the beam and above and from the beam and below, and from the various quarters from above and below, according to the positioning of the attacker and the defensive armour or armament of the target. If beam and quarter attacks are to be successful, good shooting is necessary. As far as shooting is concerned, the attack from astern may be compared with a shot at a sitting rabbit, the beam and quarter attacks with difficult cross-shots at ﬂying birds.

From this very brief explanation the reader will be able to realize why, from the newest arrival in a squadron to its most seasoned campaigner, camera gun and air ﬁring practice are important features of their daily round.

HOW THE FIGHTER PILOT SEES HIS FOE

Diagram showing a ﬁghter pilot attacking an enemy bomber. He is taking an almost full deﬂection shot and is ﬁring well in front of the enemy in order to allow for the speed of the bomber across his sights. A shot of this kind requires great skill on the part of the pilot

The reader will probably have almost forgotten Sergeant Jones at his O.T.U. He is still there. The weather has been as reasonably good as English weather ever can be, and he has been putting in a lot of hours. He can now do all the various attacks, singly and in squadron formation, and he has been getting ever-improving scores on the “drogue.” He has more or less mastered the R/T procedure (radio telephony, R/T for short, is the means by which pilots talk to one another and to the control room. The procedure is the drill for saying what one has to say by the shortest and most intelligible means) and the day has arrived when he has completed his training and is a fully operational pilot. He is called to the chief ﬂying instructor’s office, where the progress he has made is discussed. He learns that he has been posted to No. 900 Fighter Squadron at Upchester. He is given his log book and sees that he has been assessed as an average ﬁghter pilot, with no special ﬂying faults. Then, with a few ﬁnal words of advice from the C.F.I., he says goodbye, collects his railway warrant and luggage and sets off for his new station. His training school period ﬁnished, his operational career, with all its attendant excitements, has begun.

CALL SIGNS

A week has gone by, Sergeant Jones is beginning to settle down to squadron life. His ﬁrst week has been a probationary period, during which he has been allotted to “A” ﬂight, given a Spitﬁre of his own, a Mark V, armed with two cannons and four machine guns, and has spent his ﬂying time in getting to know the sector and in becoming accustomed to sector control. The sector is the part of the country which his squadron normally defends, and therefore it is most important that every pilot knows his sector’s landmarks and peculiarities intimately.

He has an R/T call sign which he will get to know as well as his own name, indeed, from now on when he is in the air he will no longer be Sergeant Jones, but Jackdaw 21, or Blue one or two, Red one or two according to the section in which he is ﬂying. Jackdaw will be his squadron call sign and 21 his individual number. We shall see later how the section colour code works.

Seven or eight days after his arrival Jones does his ﬁrst day at readiness. A squadron always has a certain number of aircraft standing by to take off at a moment’s notice should there be any hostile aircraft for them to intercept, and pilots usually take it in turns to be among those standing by, or “in readiness.”

It is early, and the ﬁrst light of dawn has not yet appeared, when Jones makes his way to his dispersal hut. The air is full of the noise of aero engines warming up. Reaching the hut he has a few words with his crew to make sure that all is well with his Spitﬁre, then he puts on his ﬂying clothing and, lighting a cigarette, sits down to wait. Soon another pilot enters the hut. This is Sergeant Smith, Jones’s section leader (ﬁghters are not detailed to intercept singly but in pairs; these pairs are called sections).

The day progresses, the sun is high and the sky partly covered by huge towering cumulus clouds. Sergeant Smith and Jones are lying on the grass near their Spitﬁres, reading. Suddenly an order from control comes through: “Blue section, scramble base.” This means that blue section must take off as quickly as possible and circle the aerodrome. Sergeant Smith and Jones leap up and have climbed into their Spitﬁres in a ﬂash. Helmets on, engines started up, parachutes and safety harnesses properly fastened, chocks away, and they are off.

THE FIRST PATROL

Over the aerodrome Sergeant Smith calls up control by a code name. We will assume that it is “Money”. He says: “Hallo Money, Jackdaw Blue one calling Money. I am now airborne.” Back comes the reply: “Money calling Jackdaw Blue One. Course 130. Climb to 10,000 feet. Are you receiving me?” Smith answers: “Receiving you loud and clear. Message understood.” Sergeant Smith and Jones set their compasses to 130 degrees, turn on to the course and begin to climb. The altimeter needle moves rapidly round the clock, and in a few minutes they are skimming the tops of the clouds. Control comes through again and Jones gets the thrill of his life: “Money calling Blue one. Money calling Blue one. Bandit approaching you from the west at 10,000 feet, continue on present course. Over to you.” Flight Sergeant Smith replies that he understands the message, and Jones opens out formation slightly so that he can search more easily.

Another minute and control comes through again: “Hallo blue one. Bandit now very near you. Over.” Jones, who has been searching hard, so far in vain, is by this time so excited that he can hardly sit still. Suddenly he sees his leader turn slightly and hears his “Tallyho,” and, “Hallo Blue 2. Bandit is half a mile away to port.” Jones turns sharply and there, half a mile away, streaking along the tops of the clouds, he sees his ﬁrst Hun, a lean, snub-nosed Junkers 88. Sergeant Smith calls again: “Hallo blue 2, prepare to attack.” At this moment the “88” decides that the Spitﬁres are too near for comfort, and dives into the cloud. Sergeant Smith follows, and Jones, who in his excitement has not been formating as well as he might have done, ﬁnds himself alone. Jones puts the nose of his Spitﬁre down and screams through the cloud. In ten seconds he comes to a clear patch, and as he emerges a dark shape ﬂashes across his bows 50 yds. ahead. Wonder of wonders, it’s the “88”! Jones’s excitement leaves him; now he has a real live Hun at close quarters, he is calm and collected. A violent turn to port, which, at the speed he is travelling at, nearly makes him black out, and he’s on the “88’s” tail. A string of orange-coloured balls leave the “88” and move quite slowly, it seems, in his direction, as they reach his aircraft they ﬂick past his cockpit with the terriﬁc speed of the bullets they are, and a small compartment somewhere in Jones’s brain starts working and registers mild astonishment at the startling phenomenon.

SHOOTING IN EARNEST

His sights are dead on now, he squeezes his ﬁring button, and several things happen at once. Flashes of light dance about on the “88’s” fuselage and wings, part of the port engine cowling ﬂies off, the orange fairy lights cease, and Jones’s windscreen becomes covered in oil. The “88” is now the size of a house and Jones breaks away to avoid ramming it. As he does so he sees another Spitﬁre coming down for a quarter attack. The “88’s” port engine is on ﬁre and pouring black smoke as Sergeant Smith disintegrates the pilot’s cockpit with a well-aimed burst. The “88” slowly turns over on to its back and plunges towards the ground leaving a ﬁery trail behind it, a brilliant ﬂash as it strikes, and another German crew have ﬁnished their ﬂying careers.

Sergeant Smith and Jones circle the spot for a few moments, Jones feeling just a little overawed by the episode.

Sergeant Smith calls up control to say that the bandit has been destroyed, and is given a course to steer for base. On landing Jones leaves his Spitﬁre to be refuelled and re-armed, and makes his report to the intelligence officer.

Smith, an old-stager with twelve conﬁrmed victories “in the bag” gives Jones full credit for the “88,” and, the report ﬁnished, they make their way towards the mess for a well-earned lunch. Someday someone will probably write a book about Jones and his exploits; meanwhile, having followed his career from his training school to his ﬁrst Hun, let us leave him to have his lunch in peace.

OVER THE CHANNEL

The role of the ﬁghter pilots is not purely defensive. With the growing strength of the R.A.F. since the Battle of Britain they have more and more gone on the offensive. First they made small sorties from the South Coast out over the English Channel. Then larger sweeps, with as many as a hundred Spitﬁres taking part, followed. They were designed to tempt the Luftwaffe into the sky, make the German ﬁghters give battle and disclose their strength. They had the added value of being wonderful training for Sergeant Jones and his fellow new pilots from the Operational Training Units. During these sweeps, anything is lawful prey for the pilots. They may be shooting up E-boats or other enemy ships in the Channel one moment and the next swooping low over his aerodromes and raking his aircraft on the ground with cannon and machine gun ﬁre. The technique of destroying railway engines and barges in canals in enemy country has been brought to a ﬁne pitch.

These sweeps are not just stunts, however. They are carefully planned and skilfully executed operations designed for purposes of swift reconnaissance and for testing out the state of the enemy’s defences. They are timed with great care, for ﬁghters have a comparatively short range, and should they linger too long over hostile territory they might run out of petrol and fail to return to their base.

ATTACKS ON SHIPPING

The larger sweeps and the attacks on ground targets in Northern France are carried out by Spitﬁres. The new Typhoons are now taking a hand.

Hurricanes armed with four cannon and two 250 lb. bombs, make a speciality of the shipping attacks. They have been known to sink quite large ships (Fig. 16), and even if they fail to sink them, their explosive shells may set the cargo alight. Such attacks require considerable determination on the part of the pilots who have to dive close to their target in face of heavy machine gun fire from the ships themselves in addition to the barrage put up by the ﬂak ships which are usually in attendance.

CANNON HURRICANE IN ACTION

Fig. 16. With its four 20 mm. cannon blazing the Hurricane IIc, seen above, is diving to attack an enemy tanker through an intense barrage put up by the tanker and its escorting ﬂak ship. The drawing, by L. Ashwell Wood, is reproduced here by courtesy of the “Sphere”

The use of ﬁghters to carry out low level bombing attacks is a comparatively recent development. Hurricanes and Whirlwinds are used. For such duties the pilots have to undergo a special course of training, but they are all agreed that for real thrills there is nothing to compete with low-altitude bombing with a bit of ground straﬁng thrown in. The pilots ﬂy very low on the way to their objective, using every fold in the ground to hide themselves until the ﬁnal moment of assault. They hop over hedges, dodge telegraph poles, ﬂy under high-tension cables, dodging and swerving to confuse the ground defences. Meanwhile, high above them, there is usually a Spitﬁre squadron or two just to see that they are not interfered with from above.

Bombing from such low altitudes makes it necessary that the bombs used should be ﬁtted with short duration fuses, for if they were to go off on impact they would certainly blow up the attacking aircraft. For the same reason, if attacks are made by more than one machine at a time they are made in line abreast, not line astern, or the following aircraft would get the full beneﬁt of the bomb that had been dropped by the machine in front.

The aiming of the bombs from such very low altitudes is a comparatively simple matter and requires no elaborate bomb sights. The pilot aims his machine straight at the target and releases his bombs when it appears just a little ahead of the spinner. The bomb, when it leaves the rack, travels almost level, much like a shell, usually hitting the objective on the side and penetrating the outer wall of that objective before exploding (Fig. 17).

TACTICS OF THE HURRI-BOMBER

Fig. 17. Hurricane bomber pilots aim their aircraft at the target and release their bombs at point-blank range, swerving away just in time to avoid hitting their objective

Fighter losses on sorties of this kind have been surprisingly small, and the tactics employed have presented the enemy with some nice problems of defence. Hurricanes (Fig. 18) travel too fast and ﬂy too low for ordinary A.A. defence measures to be effective, so the Germans have built anti-aircraft towers about 30 feet high so that they can ﬁre down on the Hurricanes from above.

Besides carrying out home defence duties and offensive sweeps, ﬁghter pilots are frequently called upon to escort bombers on daylight attacks on objectives in enemy territory. These combined sorties are known as circus operations, and the ﬁghters, which usually meet the bombers over a prearranged rendezvous take up positions which are calculated to cover the weakest parts of the bomber formation. A full description of a circus operation is given in Chapter 5, so there is no need to go into further detail here.

CLOSE-UP OF THE HURRICANE BOMBER

Fig. 18. The Hurricane carries two 250-lb. bombs in racks beneath the wings, as shown above. When it has released its load it becomes an ordinary ﬁghter again, and is able, if necessary, to ﬁght its way home. The bombs are ﬁtted with special short duration fuses

PREPARING FOR AN OFFENSIVE SWEEP

The Spitﬁre ﬁghters in the above picture are just about to set out on an offensive sweep over enemy territory. On such patrols almost anything is lawful prey for the pilots, who may be shooting up E-boats one minute and attacking enemy aerodromes the next

Up to the moment we have considered only the work and training of day ﬁghter pilots, but there is another branch of the ﬁghter fraternity who operate under the cover of darkness and who, because of the special difficulties of their work, have to undergo a very specialized course of training. We refer, of course, to the night ﬁghters.

Their training up to the F.T.S. stage is the same as for day ﬁghter pilots, but from then on the man who has shown a special aptitude for this type of ﬂying, and has been earmarked as a night ﬁghter, is given a special course calculated to ﬁt him for what is, perhaps, the most arduous and difﬁcult form of ﬂying in the Air Force today.

The night ﬁghter must be prepared to readjust his time-table. He turns himself as it were into a night club waiter, going to bed at dawn, and beginning his day’s work when other people are thinking of going to bed. His ﬁrst meal of the day may be roast beef, Yorkshire and two veg.—an unpalatable breakfast until he has become accustomed to it. This readjustment of one’s time table is largely a matter of personal drill, and it is surprising how quickly one can settle down to the new mode of life.

One of the chief requirements of the night ﬁghter is patience. He must be prepared to ﬂy for many hours in all weathers without even sighting a Hun. When he does ﬁnd his enemy he must exercise self-restraint and resist the natural desire to rush in and mix it. His job is to stalk the enemy much as a cat stalks a mouse, and when he pounces he must be certain of getting his quarry. If he misses the ﬁrst time, the odds are that he won’t get another chance, for at night the enemy stands a good chance of escape once he knows he is spotted.

The embryo night ﬁghter really starts to get down to the business of night ﬂying when he reaches his O.T.U. At ﬁrst he feels somewhat out of his element; he ﬁnds that without visual aids to help him he must rely more and more on his instruments, and that his chief worry, once he has become airborne, is the question of landing again safely all in one piece. This thought, at ﬁrst at any rate, is apt to preclude all others.

TRAINING NIGHT FIGHTERS

The ﬁrst task of instructors at night O.T.U.’s, therefore, is to make their pupils feel thoroughly at home in the air at night, for the man who is thinking about the probabilities or otherwise of his landing safely is not looking for targets, which in darkness have to be searched for with every available ounce of concentration.

Most night ﬁghting aircraft today are twin-engined, as two engines mean longer endurance. Pilots are selected according to their particular talents, and when competent, start ﬂying with an observer, who will probably go with the pilot to his squadron.

Once the pilot is competent to ﬂy and land his aircraft safely at night he receives instruction in the more advanced aspects of his work. He carries out practice interceptions, ﬁring practice, and R/T procedure. In conjunction with his ﬂying training the pilot receives ground instruction on the theory and practice of his work and spends many hours practising in the Link Trainer.

The night ﬁghter pilot relies to a far greater extent on his instruments than does the pilot who ﬂies by day, and the Link Trainer is of the greatest service in helping him to gain conﬁdence in his instruments.

Much of the pilot’s work at his O.T.U. is similar to, but more elementary than the work he will do with his squadron. Why he has to learn what he does will be clearer when we consider in more detail the operational side of night ﬁghting.

Let us now follow the night ﬁghter pilot to his operational squadron where, anxious though he is to start shooting in earnest, he has ﬁrst to undergo a further short period of training to polish up his technique.

At night, owing to the limitations on seeing aircraft, a far more exact control is necessary from the ground to bring the pilot within visual distance of his enemy, so the pilot’s ﬁrst days—or rather nights—are taken up practising in conjunction with the ground control. Instructions are passed to the pilot by R/T (radio telephony) and a set procedure is laid down which has to be thoroughly assimilated. R/T is, as it were a string, one end of which is tied to the ground control station and the other to the aircraft. Upon this connexion the pilot relies for all information concerning the whereabouts of the enemy. Without it he would be quite unable to perform his task.

A patrol at night does not merely involve taking off, completing the allotted time in the air and then landing. There are numerous preparations that have to be made before setting out. The aircraft themselves are tested during the day to make sure that everything is in order.

SIGNALS AND LIGHTS

Then, before he goes on patrol the pilot has to make himself thoroughly familiar with the various recognition signals and lights that are used at night. Sometimes the R/T breaks down, and if the pilot does not know where he is he has at least to know what to do to make certain that he gets back to his own base or some other aerodrome. These preparations after practice become more or less automatic, but to the new pilot they are apt to be confusing and make him feel that he is overburdened with details. All the details, however, are vitally important and careful training and preparations are necessary if the pilot is not to go ﬂying in a confused state of mind. This would be most undesirable, for the night ﬁghter pilot, even more than the day ﬁghter, must have every faculty keyed up to its most efﬁcient pitch.

FLIGHT IN DARKNESS

Let us go with a night ﬁghter pilot on a typical night ﬂight and see how he performs his duty. We will assume that he has completed a satisfactory day test and is sitting in a hut on the aerodrome ready to take off. He will be wearing dark goggles in order to adapt his eyes to the dark, for it takes about an hour before human eyesight becomes thoroughly accustomed to seeing at night, and he will have most of his ﬂying clothing on so that he can take off quickly. Some of the squadron’s aircraft are already in the air, and it will soon be his turn to take off. As the time for his patrol draws near he puts on the rest of his ﬂying clothing—his parachute, helmet, goggles and “Mae West”—and strolls out to his aircraft. The mechanics strap him in, and he starts up, tests his engines, and taxies gently across the darkened aerodrome to the take-off point. Here he waits until he gets the O.K. from the aerodrome control officer telling him that he may take off. Opening up his engines he gathers speed and is soon airborne. The faint light of the aerodrome ﬂare path goes out, and he and his observer are alone in a world of darkness.

Once in the air the pilot relies entirely on R/T for his directions, and soon the voice of the controller comes through his earphones giving him the course he is to steer. He changes course slightly and ﬂies on. Again comes the voice from below, this time telling him to increase height to 15,000 feet. He pulls the stick back gently and watches the needle of the altimeter. At the prescribed height he throttles down slightly, eases the stick forward, and carries on. For a long time he receives no instructions and then, just as he is giving up hope, comes the news he has been hoping for. The controller’s voice informs him that a bandit has been plotted and gives him a course and height correction.

Pilot and observer are now straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the enemy. The darkness seems impenetrable. Another slight alteration of course from control comes through the R/T, and this time the controller tells the pilot that the bandit is very near him. At that moment the aircraft enters a patch of thin cloud, and as it emerges on the other side a black shadow some hundred yards ahead vanishes into another cloud patch slightly to starboard. The game of cat and mouse has begun in real earnest.

A “BEAU” GOES ON PATROL

The Bristol Beauﬁghter, with its overwhelming ﬁre power, is the terror of enemy airmen over Britain. A short burst from its cannon and machine guns is sufficient to disintegrate the enemy and cause it to crash, often before the crew have had time to take to their parachutes. Above a “Beau” night ﬁghter is seen just about to take off on a night patrol

SIGHTING THE ENEMY

Altering course slightly the pilot steers for the cloud that has given the raider temporary shelter. He knows that the sky is fairly clear and that once clear of this patch he stands a good chance of ﬁnding the enemy again. He is planning to attack from behind and below, from which position he will be invisible to the enemy, so he eases the stick forward and gathers speed in a shallow dive. Suddenly he is in clear air again and there, about six or seven hundred yards ahead he can see the dark outline of the bandit. His calculations have been good, for he has manoeuvred into an excellent position. The enemy is blissfully unaware of his presence, and unless he suddenly changes course, or spots his pursuer, he should be a real sitting shot.

Gradually the distance separating the aircraft lessens. Now he is well within range, but our pilot is going to make sure of his quarry so he holds on for a bit. Nearer and nearer he gets to his prey, holding his ﬁre until there is no possibility of a miss. He gets the target well in the sights. Immediately he presses the gun button and four vicious ﬂashes leap forth. At ﬁrst nothing seems to happen, then a dull glow appears in the fuselage of the aircraft in front. He gives him one more burst just to make sure, and in a moment the sky is lighted up. The bandit goes into a shallow dive, smoke pouring from its tail. The dive gets steeper—he is obviously out of control. Our pilot follows him for a bit and then, satisﬁed that he has ﬁnished him off, circles slowly waiting for him to crash. It seems an age before the bandit reaches the ground, but all of a sudden, far away below, there is a violent burst of ﬂame as the enemy strikes the earth.

The pilot now calls up his base and reports “bandit destroyed.” In return he is given the course to steer for home. Soon he is back again over the aerodrome, which he circles while he is waiting for permission to land. Below him he can see the faint twinkle of the ﬂare-path lights, and, putting his nose down and lowering his ﬂaps he glides in across the aerodrome in order to make a perfect landing.

He taxies his aircraft off the ﬂare-path and hands it over to the maintenance crew. No damage has been done to his machine, so he has nothing to report. Both he and his observer stroll over to the operations block for the interrogation. They are looking forward to it for once. They have good news and are eager to tell the intelligence oﬁicer of their success.

THE PILOT’S PROBLEMS

Night ﬁghting is not always as easy as it sounds from the above description and things do not always go so smoothly. In winter, ﬂying conditions are generally rather unpleasant. There may be plenty of cloud which makes it difficult to locate the enemy. Again, having sighted the enemy, our pilot might in turn be detected and violent evasive action on the part of the enemy might enable him to escape. In addition, there is always the chance, and quite a big chance, that the enemy might start shooting back, so our pilots cannot, and do not, expect to emerge from such combats unscathed. German bombers nowadays are being more heavily armed against attack from astern, and although the odds are usually in favour of the attacker, there are times when the enemy gets his shot in ﬁrst.

There is another class of work carried out by night ﬁghters which makes a strong appeal to the more venturesome pilots. That is paying a visit to enemy bomber aerodromes and waiting for their prey to return. The operation is known as “Intruder.” In operations of this kind the pilot, who knows pretty accurately the time when the raiders will be returning to their base, goes direct to the enemy aerodrome, where he ﬂies about in the neighbourhood until he spots a raider coming in to land. The usual procedure is to get on the enemy’s tail and glide in behind him. The ﬂare-path on the aerodrome will warn him of the enemy’s approach, even if he does not spot him beforehand. Then, just as the enemy is about to land, he presses the button and “gives him the works.” More often than not the enemy pilot is confused at the moment when he is concentrating on landing his aircraft with the result that a crash follows. The ﬁghter pilot may then shoot up some of the aerodrome buildings as he streaks low over the ground on his way home.

German night ﬁghter pilots, too, have tried these tactics, but with the extremely efficient system of radiolocation used in Britain, they are usually located and brought to book before they have been in the neighbourhood of the aerodromes for long.

Some of the aircraft used for night ﬁghting have been much in the public eye since they have been released off the secret list. The Beauﬁghter twin-engined aircraft is probably one of the better-known types, and it is certainly the most deadly. It is one of the most heavily armed aeroplanes in the world, carrying four cannon and six machine guns. The effect, when a well-aimed burst hits the target, is amazing. The pilot is more likely to suffer damage from ﬂying pieces of Hun than from the return ﬁre of the Hun’s guns. The “Beau” carries a pilot and an observer who also loads the cannon. It is capable of more than three hundred and thirty miles per hour, and can stay airborne for many hours on end.

NIGHT FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

The Havoc is another type of twin-engined night ﬁghter. Originally built in America as a bomber and known in its bomber form as the Boston, the Havoc is a very fast and manoeuvrable aeroplane armed with a number of machine guns. The tricycle under-carriage makes it very suitable for night landing. It is illustrated here.

Single-engined aircraft used for night ﬁghting include the Hurricane with four cannon or twelve machine guns, and the Spitﬁre. Both these aircraft are continuing to do excellent work.

When pilots come off patrol they have one duty to perform, which often is irksome, but nevertheless of great importance—the results of the patrol have to be reported to the intelligence officer so that the damage the enemy has suffered can be estimated.

There are three categories of results. Firstly, aircraft destroyed. To claim this, a pilot, if possible, must have conﬁrmation from an outside source, such as another pilot who saw the aircraft crash, or if the enemy was brought down over England, reports from witnesses on the ground. If, however, no outside conﬁrmation is found, the pilot’s word for having destroyed an aircraft is taken. The Air Force prides itself on the fact that aircraft claimed as destroyed are deﬁnitely so.

The second category is, “probably destroyed.” If a pilot sees vital pieces breaking off the aircraft as a result of his ﬁre, or if both engines are set on ﬁre, he still may not see the ultimate end of the combat. The enemy may go into cloud, or at night may disappear by reason of violent evasive tactics. But if, in the opinion of the pilot, the damage inﬂicted was such as to make it improbable that the enemy would get back to his base, the claim is a probable.

The third category is “damaged.” This claim is made when a pilot sees his shots striking his antagonist, but cannot say deﬁnitely that the enemy was destroyed or probably destroyed.

It will be realized from this that when reports in the newspapers state that a certain number of enemy aircraft were destroyed, it is almost certain that a number of others were probably destroyed and damaged. To estimate the damage a careful check is made of all pilots’ claims so that a reasonably true estimate of the enemy’s resources can be made.

END OF A HEINKEL III

This enemy bomber was caught fair and square in the hail of ﬁre from an eight-gun ﬁghter. The effect of cannon ﬁre is more spectacular even than this, and has to be seen to be believed. This picture was taken by a camera the shutter of which is worked by the gun button

A FIGHTER PILOT MAKES HIS REPORT

The ﬁghter pilot seen above has just returned from a patrol and is making his report to an intelligence officer. The results of ﬁghter combats are classified under three headings—aircraft destroyed, aircraft probably destroyed, and aircraft damaged—and it is a point of honour with R.A.F. pilots only to claim aircraft destroyed when they know that they are deﬁnitely so. Information obtained from pilots helps the R.A.F. to estimate the enemy’s resources

There is one other method of using ﬁghters, but little can be said about it at the moment. It is known as “cata-ﬁghters,” meaning the catapulting of ﬁghters. When the U-boat menace became serious and a large part of the Atlantic could not be patrolled by existing aircraft, the only way to give merchant ships air protection was by providing them with ﬁghters they could carry with them. Hurricanes were accordingly adapted to be shot into the air by means of a catapult which could be ﬁtted on the restricted deck space of a merchant ship and the R.A.F. was asked to provide ﬁghter pilots who would be prepared to travel across the Atlantic and back, perhaps never having a combat, and who would ﬂy off ready to pancake into the sea if necessary because they were too far out to reach land.

The service was placed under the control of the Navy and has been successful. Pilots have many times been shot into the air on the approach of long-range German bombers and have beaten them off to save the ship, being picked up afterwards or managing to reach land quite ready to sail again as soon as their vessel had unloaded, and had turned round for another voyage.

ATTACKS ON ENEMY TRANSPORT

The R.A.F. has greatly developed the use of ﬁghters for daring low level attacks on the enemy’s transport in daylight. Types of aircraft used for such operations include Typhoons, Hurricanes and Whirlwinds. Low level bombing and ground straﬁng are packed with thrills, but all the pilots selected for this work undergo a special and severe course of training ﬁrst