~The Air War"

(Continued from page 1)

sufficient to meet the best trained troops in
Europe. It was the summer of 1916 before the
grand offensive could be launched. This time
we also need two years for the same task, and
it may well be the summer of 1941 before an
army of comparable size is at its posts in the
line in France ready for a comparable task.

“At the same time, this time we have to
raise, equip and train an Air Force of a size
comparable only with what was achieved in
the fourth year of war last time. And it
may also be the summer of 1941 before peak
effort in this direction is reached.

“Surely then our wisest course is to keep
our powder dry; neither to engage in adven-
tures, which may be premature; .nor so to
goad the enemy into action as may compel
us to face the grand offensive. except in our
own time.

“Patience is one of the cardinal virtues
which will bring victory, and most of the
demands for action are based on impatience
rather than on nobler convictions.

“In the last war the campaign opened with
that clash of cavalry and war of movement
which are the dreams of all strategists. Final-
ly the two sides stood face to face along a
line of steel, which stretched from Switzer-
land to the North Sea. They dug in and
formed a line from which despite the most
heroic sacrifices, neither side budged very
much through four and a half years.

“This time, thanks to the realistic pro-
vision and faithfulness of our gallant ally,
France, the line of our defense was built in
the ten years prior to the conflict. We owe
a great debt to France for that. So we are
able to march into fixed position in the line
without the battles or the casualties which
characterized the opening phases of 1914 and
1915.

“If boredom has resulted from the absence
of the spectacular clash, surely that is a small
price to pay in exchange for battle with its
inevitable list of casualties.

“The Allies will have gone a long way
to victory if, in their diplomacy as well as in
their strategy, they are able to induce the
enemy to maintain a policy of masterly in-
activity for the next 18 months while, behind
the protection of that respite the task of
mobilization, training, equipping and manu-
facturing is completed.

“Will Germany allow that lull to continue?
It is in her interests to strike now and I
predict she will probably do so. If so, we
are ready in the air to defend this country
and to preserve to her that inviolability she
has known for a thousand years. That is the
main task of the R.A.F. at home and, if it
has been successful in the opening months
of war, it is because of the high state of
efficiency achieved.

“There are three R.A.F. commands con-
cerned with active operations. The first is
the Fighter Command. Under the Commander-
in-Chief come all the Fighters, Barrage Bal-
loons, AA Guns, Searchlights, Observer Corps,
and the work of the Intelligence abroad.

“Every time raiders approach our coast
these Fighters ascend to intercept and to bring
them to combat. 4n over a hundred raids
there have been some 60 engagements, and
from 50 to 60 Nazi bombers have been brought
down. Not a single British Fighter has been
shot down. The reason lies in the technical
superiority of the Fighter. They are built to
take off quickly, to climb rapidly, to fly at

ROUND & ROUND

high speed, to discharge some 9,000 bullets
per minute from their eight guns. But range
is necessarily limited. They cannot follow
the enemy too far out to sea.

“Soon you will see our new Fighters which,
while preserving all these attributes, will add
long range to their accomplishments. They
will be able to chase enemy bombers back
across the North Sea.

“But, by the organization and devices at
our command, you may be assured that not
a single aircraft—whether it be friendly or
hostile—approaches these shores without the
Fighter Command being aware; and without
it being tracked and potted all the way in
and out again.

“The Bomber Command is responsible for
the active operations against the enemy. Day
and night, throughout the worst winter in
memory, thanks to the courage and fidelity of
our pilots and crews, our night bombers have
flown far into the heart of Germany, while our
day bombers have sought the enemy and
compelled him to fight over his own bases.

“Try to imagine the work of these bombers
which take off in the darkness of night from
aerodromes which in peace time could be
lighted up to aid them; which fly for 400
miles over the North Sea in temperatures of
30 degrees below zero; with no friendly light
on the waters to guide them; without the aid
of wireless which in peace time could be used
for navigation; bereft of those weather re-
ports which help the pilot on his way, and
which assure him of conditions governing his
return; where the first intimation that they
have entered a hostile land comes from the
flaming lights of the AA guns as they cross
the coast; where the pilots then turn on their
course for hundreds of miles to their objec-
tives either to make a reconnaissance or to
drop their leaflets; where navigation is done
largely by sight of the stars; where a faulty
engine means the loneliness of captivity if
the crew can take to their parachutes safely
in the dark; or a fate much worse if they can-
not; where the return journey must now be
made across hundreds of miles of a territory
roused to their presence; where every man’s
hand is against them; where the long crossing
of the dark waters must again be accomplished
ere home is reached; and where after perhaps
a twelve hours’ vigil the most dangerous task
lies ahead—that of gliding in to land at
perhaps a fogbound aerodrome where only the
dimmed glow-lamps on the flare path (vis-
ible only from 200 feet) are the friendly guide
to bring them to safe anchorage. Yet this
work has been going on in conditions in
which no air force has ever had to operate in
any land hitherto. And it has been achieved
week after week throughout the war so far.

“The work of the Coastal Command is like-
wise something new. The great flying boats
with their range of up to 2,000 miles, have
been flying in all weathers far out into the
Atlantic to aid the Navy in convoying mer-

Page 3

chant ships round our coasts where the
‘sharks’ lie in wait for them; helping to sink
submarines themselves by direct action from
the air; flying far into the Arctic Circle to
prevent German raiders from leaving German
ports or German warships from returning.

“These have been the main tasks to which
the R.A.F. has committed its hand in the
war so far. Soon may come the time of trial
when it will also have to play its part in re-
sisting air invasion. It must not be supposed
that every bomber will be brought down or
turned back. Some must get through and
there will be casualties.

“But so far, both sides have kept the air
war away from civilians, as they promised
America. Fear of retaliation may be the
only brake on the Nazi war machine. And the
knowledge, by the experiences of our flights
over Germany, that we can reach all parts of
the Reich without hindrance at night is
playing its part in sobering the extremists who
have hitherto gloried in the notion that the
total destruction of British cities could bring
victory.

“T would, therefore, close as I commenced,
by asking you to keep this larger outlook of
what may be the Allied strategy constantly
before you; and of not allowing yourselves
to be deflected from your support of and con-
fidence in the Allied policy, merely because
an occasional air raid seems’ spectacular
enough to dwarf long-distance views, or to
eclipse them. If the Allies can be supported
and are not tempted to swerve from the main
strategy they have coolly conceived, victory
must in the end be attained.” (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

Lon L. Kuhl
& Son

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