THE CHINA MAIL, AUGUST 20, 1941.
RACE TO BE TOP DOG IN THE
THE AIR
(By An Air Correspondent)
THE WAR IN THE AIR rises higher as the offensive seeks by any and every means to defeat the defence. Fighter engagements are now taking place regularly at heights greater than 30,000 feet.
Bombers are flying at more than 20,000-feet. Both sides strain to increase. performance at height in the well-founded belief that the top dog still has the better of the fight.
The reason for all this con- centration on climbing power is to be found in the attempt to hold the advantage in attack. Our fighter squadrons form an almost impenetrable barrier to daylight raiders at normal levels. They are beginning to claim a crippling toll at night. The answer of the enemy is to attempt to fly over the top
of this barrier
and sacrifice ac-
curacy for security in coming.
MAFOO AND
PONIES KILLED
BY LIVE WIRE
New German Fighter IN HUNGJAO
The latest example of this trend
In German tactics is found in the new Messerschmitt Mc 109F
A Chinese mafoo and
single-seat fighter which is now two ponies were electro- in squadron service in the Luft-cuted and killed almost
waffe. This new Messerschmitt is
not the German equivalent of the instantly while two for- Tornado or the Typhoon, but may eigners out for an early
be regarded rather as the counter-
qualities.
The Me 109F differs from the
"PORTUGAL: NEXT"
Colonel Donovan, who recently toured Europe as President Roosevelt's special envoy, speaking at Princeton, New Jersey,.
view expressed the that Germany may soon seize Portugal, and move through French North Africa towards Dakar, thus seeking to control the South Atlantic.
FIRE-WATCHERS IN DAY-TIME
The Regional Commissioner for
ut
Fire-watchers and fire parties need be on duty only during alerts in day Ime working hours, and from half-an-hour before the black-out to the end of the black-out period.
part of our latest Hurricane Mark morning ride narrowly the north-west (Sir Harry Haig) Ils and Spitfire Mark Vs. The most interesting fact about it is escaped a similar fate and announced that fire-watching
business premises during the the concentration on high flying emerged with severe daytime is to be relaxed immed-
shocks in the Hungjao lately. standard Me 109E of last summer area of Shanghai. in that it has a more powerful Mercedes Benz DB 601 motor with a higher degree of supercharge to enable it to give its full power at around 20,000 ft. The Me 109F has also a bigger wing of better form, so that the climbing powers are improved. Delail refinements include a retractable tail wheel, which adds several miles an hour to the speed, a canilever tallplane. and a redesigned cockpit en- | front closure.
The pony the mafoo was riding was ahead of the others on Hung- jao Road and accidentally got into contact with R telephone wire which had been blown down dur- ing the recent typhoon.
ન
It is stipulated that at all times The foreigners, who were Miss there must be someone respon- Slemssen and Mr. E. Schuster,sible for seeing that buildings can witnessed the accident as be opened during an alert. Firms' The ma/oo was riding in should not make any change, un- of them. His ponytil they have consulted the 'local slipped and faltered. The rider authority: As a result of these modifica was thrown off and fell under- tions, this new German fighter.neath the pony. which we shall sec over this coun- Miss Siemssen immediately dis- try in numbers before long. can mounted and was attempting to By and fight at heights above save the mafoo when her pony 38.000 ft. We shall have to con-backed and hit a live wire and centrate to a still greater extent was killed instantly, it was as- F improving the high-flying certained that the mafoo's pony qualities of our fighters to meet and its rider had come into con- this new threat. To be able to out-tact with the wire and were kill-
a rival ed. elimb and Gutmanoeuvre gives a fighter an immense ad- vantage in a dav fight and the tactical advantage of diving on an opponent.
Safeguarding The Pilot
The practical problems are not solely concerned with reaching a great height. They are just as much bound up with making the conditions bearable for the pilot at that height and in ensuring the reliability of the airframe and 'motor.
Miss Slumssen and Mr Schuster sustained severe shocks. Enquiries made elicited that the wire was # military telephone which had either fallen or been blown down by the typhoon and in falling had crossed a cable or the Power Company.
As the live wire hanging across the road presented a serious menace to pedestrians and others the Power Company wher. informed of the occurrence im- mediately sent workers to the scene to remove the danger. The men made a thorough search in the vicinity and neighbourhood | to ascertain if other live wires The were not lying around..
At 35,000 ft., where combats are now taking place, the tempera- ture is minus 55 degrees Centi- grade and the density of the air mafon was conveyed to a Chinese- is only about one-quarter of that hospital in an emergency ambul-. ance and was certified to be at sea level. Oxyen is necessary to
dead upon arrival. maintain life at any height above
An inspector of the Shanghai 20.000 ft. Should a pilot, forced
Society for the Prevention of to bale out at 35,000 ft., open his
also went to parachute at once he will take Cruelty to Animals
of the tragedy and ten minutes to descend to 20,000 the scene ft., by which time he will be dead arranged for the disposal of the ponies. Miss Siemssen and her for want of oxygen.
home none Even if he decides to delay companion returned
for their harrowing pulling his rip cord he will take the worse about two minutes to escape from experience. his machine and to fall freely to 20,000 ft. In those two minutes he drive turbo-super-chargers may lose consciousness and be which the energy in the exhaust unable to operate his parachute gases from the motors is used to though he may revive in the sixty compress the rarified air into the seconds before he hits the ground. cylinders: Cruising at 30,000 ft. Another trouble of high flying the bomber is safe from accurate is that petrol feed pipes and con- anti-aircraft fire and is difficult trols become brittle and shrink to intercept by fighters even by after prolonged exposure at such day. low temperatures and failures are There seems little doubt that likely to occur.
substratosphere bombers will be
"
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