News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

WE LEAIlJWED... (Concluded) nights. Of
the seven cross countr,r trips taken. six
terminated on airports. The aver~ di ...
tance was 50 miles. The enstamar,y procedure
vas to ent loose from the tow plane
at 3.000 feet. When thermal activitl' vas
encountered. the pilot would spiral. gaining
all the al ti tude possible. He would
then resume his course until the next thermal
vas encountered. when the spiraling
would be repeated.
It sOWldseasl' but required considerable
practice. The advantages in landing on an
airport at the te1'lD1nationof the night
are twofold. J'iret,l'OU are as8U1'ed of a
decent landing field without last-minute
discoveries of ditches. power lines. cattle,
etc. Secondll', the sailplane Can be towed
to the homeairport bl' airplane tow with
the resulting saving in trouble of di ...
mantling the sailplane and trucking 1t baclt
on a trailer.
~_ ••(Concluded) to exceed 250 to 300
metere. Action at greater range ~ be
resorted to onll' where the aircraft are
equipped with cannon. The best armed airplane
so far has proved to be the machineglm
and cannon equipped pursuit plane.
In the case of the swift bomber. threat
of pursu1t craft maehine guns is onll' from
one direct1on--40 degress in the rear hemiaphere--primarill'
~nst the lower portions
of the bombers.
The modern night antiaircraft defense
is suffering from a variety of important
deficiencies; as a consequence, night raids
have proven relatively safe. The Germans
have transferred their efforts to night
undertaldngs.
The value of the experience to be derived
from the raids on London is exceptlonal17
great. inasmuch as it has permitted the
verification of a series of theoretical
assumptions. Someof these m~ be noy corrected,
others as thoraugh4r refuted. Of
equally vi tal importance is this experience
in the construction of airplanes andmotors.
From Krasnaya. ZYyema.
31 December1940
(Translated at the Army War College. Was~
ington, D.C•• and condensed bl' Oapt. O. O.
Michelmann. Mili tBr7 Intelligence .•
Reprinted from ~ MilitarY Reyiey of the
Commandand General Staff School. Fort
~eevenworth, Kans.)
~ ~ •• (Ooncluded) forces--particnlarll'
armored diT1sions. Ooordinated action
of armored ground forces. in conetant
cOlllllUD.icationbl' radio with cooperat1Dgdive
bomber forces. has proved to be the decicting
factor in maD7 of the campaigns of the
European war.
Earll' experiments with the technique of
dive bombing were made in Hai ti bl' the Merine
Oorps in 1920 and 1921. at a time when
the entire Marine aviation group consisted
of onll' 42 pilots. In these early efforts
DIU's of World War fame were used, and both
bombs and bombracks vere improvised.
Experiments vith dive bombing by naval
aviation between this time and 1927 were
conducted most17 with Vought Ooreairs and
Curtiss FalCons, the latter an Armyairplane.
Theories of bomb fragmentation,
angle of descent, optiIllUll altitude, .1lc.
were developed in this period. Oomplicated
bomb sights which had beenused earlier
were discarded as increasinglT steeper
dives enabled more effective bombing to be
accomplished .erell' byus1ng the gun sights.
Results of this early development were
first released to the public in 1927 at the
first Miami Air Baees, when targets placed
in full view of the spectators were subjected
to dive bombing sttacks bl' naval
aviation units in an impressive exhibition.
At this time Na..,. and Marine Oorps authorities
decided to design a special plane for
dive bombing, as the potentialities of this
method of warfare had become so evident.
This first dive bomber was the famous Curtiss
.Hell Diver,. p:roduced.in 1929.
Dive bombing vas eJltPloyedextenei vely between
1927 and 1931 by Marine forces in
Nicaragua against bandit and revolutiOD8r7
factions in that countrT. Sta.nd.e.rdplanes
were used, with 3O-pound fragmentation
.personnel. bombs.
Their use bY' the Germane. whoplo1c:e4 up
the idea in this count17, vas particularll'
effective in the Lowlands campaign and in
:B'rance.
Sp.uu:SB ••a South American countrTis discussed.
A short address is made bl' Professor
GueTdan. in which he relates native
anecdotes and draw from his experience a
picture of the pS7Chologr of the people.
A film obtained from the Pan American Union
at WashilllSton, D.O•• illustrates each talk,
and the nmaic of the countrT is pl~ed on
& phonograph. The lectures are given to
afford ~ officers a good look into what
make. the Latins tick. a knowledge that is
indispensable. the professor insists.
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