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SOMETHING NEW OUT OF GERMANY

SOMETHING NEW OUT OF GERMANY August, 1942 AIRCRAFT ENGINEERIN G 213 which the idea may have been taken—is fitted ; which involves the fitting of a " dummy " tail-piece, the whole of which is jettisonable. Aircraft Engineering Even more interesting, perhaps, than this detail is the very elaborate series of electric controls interconnecting the bomb doors, bomb- Devote d to th e Science an d Practice of Aero ­ release gear, dive brakes and elevator tabs so that the pilot's nautic s and to Allied and Subsidiary decision to attack puts into operation a sequence of automatic controls which set the machine into the required dive at a safe angle Branche s of th e Engineerin g Industry and speed and, immediately on release of the bombs, close th e bomb Editor:Lieut.-Col. W. Lockwood Marsh, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., M.S.A.E.,F.I.Ae.S. doors, retract the brakes and set the elevators for recovery—all as a result of pressing one button, after pre-selccting two switches. This certainly is the apotheosis of dive-bombing and, if we may say so, makes the dive-bombers ordered from America in May, 1940, of which so much has been heard in the House of Commons recently, look a little jettne fille. E are afraid that this number may be considered by some readers to be unduly dominated by the Do 217. We had A Military Question Win fact arranged a carefully "balanced " issue to contain a We are not here concerned with the controversies as to whether variety of articles suited to most tastes. All these plans were, or not the British Army authorities believe in the efficacy of the however, upset by the receipt from the MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT dive-bomber—or whether they are right or wrong in the view, PRODUCTION of a number of official reports on different aspects of whichever it may be, they hold. Whatever may be the merits of the design, construction and equipment of the 217. We had, at this tactical question, there is no doubt that the Germans have, in the same time, awaiting publication the Ministry's report on the this machine, made a very great advance in the technique ; pro­ FuG 16 type of radio equipment, which happens to be installed in viding, with their accustomed foresight, for the inevitable lack of this machine. Then we were informed of the completion of a experience and training in some of the pilots they may have to translation of the German description from Flugsport ot the B.M.W. employ on this work. If the dive-bomber be required, undoubtedly 801 engine, which is the type fitted and also, therefore, seemed here is the form which it should take, in so far as the detailed appropriately suitable for contemporaneous publication. Rather- operation, from the pilot's point of view, is concerned. The elabor­ than publish all this material relating to the same aeroplane in a ate system of automatic electric controls constitute, at any rate, number of issues spread over several months it seemed more con­ a very great advance on the angles painted on the windscreen that venient to publish them all together ; a proceeding which, we feel, were almost all the earlier pilots had to help them. considerably enhances the individual value of each. Our chief regret is that it has entailed the holding over, of the second instal­ A Definition Needed ment of MR. LUSTY'S thoughtful series of articles on air-line engineer­ Wc are not concerned, as we have just said, with the military ing management—for which we owe him our apologies. advantages or otherwise of dive-bombing but there is one thing that needs saying. It is difficult to form any useful judgment, or come to Th e Method Adopted any reasonable opinion either way, in the absence, except on the As received by us, the description of the Do 217 was contained in rarest occasions, of reliable information as to when in fact a true a series of five reports, which involved a certain amount of over­ dive-bombing attack has taken place. It is now, for instance, stated lapping and repetition. While retaining the general arrangement, (apparently on the strength of a German radio announcement) that by dividing the description into sections corresponding with the the recent fall of Tobruk wasdu e to the overwhelming of the defend­ original reports, we have cut out a good deal of the repetitive ers by dive-bombing attacks. It may be so, but there was nothing in matter, and, in some instances, transferred paragraphs from one any official communiqud to suggest such an experience ; an d there is section to another where they seemed more appropriately to belong. Although we are publishing the fairly complete German description the same doubt about many other examples of the alleged use of this of the B.M.W. 801 engine we have retained the account of it' in the method. The fact is tha t many correspondents refer to any low-level British report as this views it from a somewhat different aspect, attack as dive-bombing, showing that they have not the faintest and is to a certain extent in the nature of critical comment. conception of the meaning of the term. We have seen it stated that In the result, we hope it will be agreed that, through the good the Prince of Wales and Repulse were lost through dive-bombing— offices of the MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION, this issue con­ which is nonsense ; though not, perhaps, greater nonsense than the tains as much as anyone can reasonably expect to learn of at any reference, we once read, to the use of a " Walrus " in a dive-bombing rate one current type of Luftwaffe equipment, apart from the attack on a German ship. There seems to be some need for a defini­ opportunity of a close detailed personal examination. tion ; which, we must confess, we find great difficulty in formulating. Presumably it would be based on the more or less arbitrary selection Th e Justification of some angle at which the dive was made ; this seems to be the Had it not been that we were devoting two-thirds of our editorial touchstone. It would be interesting to have views on this point, space this month to what is, in a sense, one subject, we should not which, so far as we know, has not been discussed. have deemed it necessary to pen this " apologia " ; since the pub­ lication of as much information as is obtainable on enemy practice, TECHNICAL LIAISON particularly when (as in the case of the engine description) it is obtainable from enemy sources, has been our main policy since the We commend for the study of designers and production engineers declaration of war ; as frequently proclaimed in these columns and the S.A.E. paper by MR. KUDLICH, entitled " Engineering Liaison in announcements appearing in the advertisement columns of and Production Control", which appears in this issue. Though British tind American professional publications. We feel that this dealing primarily with aero-engines, it has its lessons in connexion is doing infinitely better service to British aeronautics than if we with aeroplanes also, in so far as th e need for the collection, collation were to reveal as much as was permitted to us of the details of and analysis of faults which develop, both in the development and design and production of home-produced machines, for the satisfac­ operational stages, is stressed. In wartime it involves the establish­ tion of the curious and the edification of the enemy. ment of a very close liaison between the manufacturer and the Looked at from another point of view, however, though all this service concerned—the representatives of the peacetime producer considerable mass of material relates to the one aeroplane, a wide and user—which, judging by past experience, might not be too easy variety of subjects is covered. The Do 217 is not in any way remarkable from either the aerodynamic or structural points of to establish, though the need is obvious. The practice of sending view, but it does contain a number of novel ideas, from the opera­ firm's representatives to operational units is now well established ; tional aspect, of extreme ingenuity. This particularly applies to it is, rather, the organization for the detailed analysis of the reports the arrangements for dive bombing. received that is generally lacking. An Ingenious Arrangement The fact that goods made of raw materials in short supply owing to war conditions are In the first place, a revolutionary type of air brake, on entirely advertised la AIRCRAFT E.VGINSEHI.VO should not be taken as an indication that they aro new lines—except for a certain generic resemblance to the anti-spin necessarily availablo for export. parachute device evolved at Farnborough some years ago, from http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Emerald Publishing

SOMETHING NEW OUT OF GERMANY

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology , Volume 14 (8): 1 – Aug 1, 1942

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0002-2667
DOI
10.1108/eb030927
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

August, 1942 AIRCRAFT ENGINEERIN G 213 which the idea may have been taken—is fitted ; which involves the fitting of a " dummy " tail-piece, the whole of which is jettisonable. Aircraft Engineering Even more interesting, perhaps, than this detail is the very elaborate series of electric controls interconnecting the bomb doors, bomb- Devote d to th e Science an d Practice of Aero ­ release gear, dive brakes and elevator tabs so that the pilot's nautic s and to Allied and Subsidiary decision to attack puts into operation a sequence of automatic controls which set the machine into the required dive at a safe angle Branche s of th e Engineerin g Industry and speed and, immediately on release of the bombs, close th e bomb Editor:Lieut.-Col. W. Lockwood Marsh, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., M.S.A.E.,F.I.Ae.S. doors, retract the brakes and set the elevators for recovery—all as a result of pressing one button, after pre-selccting two switches. This certainly is the apotheosis of dive-bombing and, if we may say so, makes the dive-bombers ordered from America in May, 1940, of which so much has been heard in the House of Commons recently, look a little jettne fille. E are afraid that this number may be considered by some readers to be unduly dominated by the Do 217. We had A Military Question Win fact arranged a carefully "balanced " issue to contain a We are not here concerned with the controversies as to whether variety of articles suited to most tastes. All these plans were, or not the British Army authorities believe in the efficacy of the however, upset by the receipt from the MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT dive-bomber—or whether they are right or wrong in the view, PRODUCTION of a number of official reports on different aspects of whichever it may be, they hold. Whatever may be the merits of the design, construction and equipment of the 217. We had, at this tactical question, there is no doubt that the Germans have, in the same time, awaiting publication the Ministry's report on the this machine, made a very great advance in the technique ; pro­ FuG 16 type of radio equipment, which happens to be installed in viding, with their accustomed foresight, for the inevitable lack of this machine. Then we were informed of the completion of a experience and training in some of the pilots they may have to translation of the German description from Flugsport ot the B.M.W. employ on this work. If the dive-bomber be required, undoubtedly 801 engine, which is the type fitted and also, therefore, seemed here is the form which it should take, in so far as the detailed appropriately suitable for contemporaneous publication. Rather- operation, from the pilot's point of view, is concerned. The elabor­ than publish all this material relating to the same aeroplane in a ate system of automatic electric controls constitute, at any rate, number of issues spread over several months it seemed more con­ a very great advance on the angles painted on the windscreen that venient to publish them all together ; a proceeding which, we feel, were almost all the earlier pilots had to help them. considerably enhances the individual value of each. Our chief regret is that it has entailed the holding over, of the second instal­ A Definition Needed ment of MR. LUSTY'S thoughtful series of articles on air-line engineer­ Wc are not concerned, as we have just said, with the military ing management—for which we owe him our apologies. advantages or otherwise of dive-bombing but there is one thing that needs saying. It is difficult to form any useful judgment, or come to Th e Method Adopted any reasonable opinion either way, in the absence, except on the As received by us, the description of the Do 217 was contained in rarest occasions, of reliable information as to when in fact a true a series of five reports, which involved a certain amount of over­ dive-bombing attack has taken place. It is now, for instance, stated lapping and repetition. While retaining the general arrangement, (apparently on the strength of a German radio announcement) that by dividing the description into sections corresponding with the the recent fall of Tobruk wasdu e to the overwhelming of the defend­ original reports, we have cut out a good deal of the repetitive ers by dive-bombing attacks. It may be so, but there was nothing in matter, and, in some instances, transferred paragraphs from one any official communiqud to suggest such an experience ; an d there is section to another where they seemed more appropriately to belong. Although we are publishing the fairly complete German description the same doubt about many other examples of the alleged use of this of the B.M.W. 801 engine we have retained the account of it' in the method. The fact is tha t many correspondents refer to any low-level British report as this views it from a somewhat different aspect, attack as dive-bombing, showing that they have not the faintest and is to a certain extent in the nature of critical comment. conception of the meaning of the term. We have seen it stated that In the result, we hope it will be agreed that, through the good the Prince of Wales and Repulse were lost through dive-bombing— offices of the MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION, this issue con­ which is nonsense ; though not, perhaps, greater nonsense than the tains as much as anyone can reasonably expect to learn of at any reference, we once read, to the use of a " Walrus " in a dive-bombing rate one current type of Luftwaffe equipment, apart from the attack on a German ship. There seems to be some need for a defini­ opportunity of a close detailed personal examination. tion ; which, we must confess, we find great difficulty in formulating. Presumably it would be based on the more or less arbitrary selection Th e Justification of some angle at which the dive was made ; this seems to be the Had it not been that we were devoting two-thirds of our editorial touchstone. It would be interesting to have views on this point, space this month to what is, in a sense, one subject, we should not which, so far as we know, has not been discussed. have deemed it necessary to pen this " apologia " ; since the pub­ lication of as much information as is obtainable on enemy practice, TECHNICAL LIAISON particularly when (as in the case of the engine description) it is obtainable from enemy sources, has been our main policy since the We commend for the study of designers and production engineers declaration of war ; as frequently proclaimed in these columns and the S.A.E. paper by MR. KUDLICH, entitled " Engineering Liaison in announcements appearing in the advertisement columns of and Production Control", which appears in this issue. Though British tind American professional publications. We feel that this dealing primarily with aero-engines, it has its lessons in connexion is doing infinitely better service to British aeronautics than if we with aeroplanes also, in so far as th e need for the collection, collation were to reveal as much as was permitted to us of the details of and analysis of faults which develop, both in the development and design and production of home-produced machines, for the satisfac­ operational stages, is stressed. In wartime it involves the establish­ tion of the curious and the edification of the enemy. ment of a very close liaison between the manufacturer and the Looked at from another point of view, however, though all this service concerned—the representatives of the peacetime producer considerable mass of material relates to the one aeroplane, a wide and user—which, judging by past experience, might not be too easy variety of subjects is covered. The Do 217 is not in any way remarkable from either the aerodynamic or structural points of to establish, though the need is obvious. The practice of sending view, but it does contain a number of novel ideas, from the opera­ firm's representatives to operational units is now well established ; tional aspect, of extreme ingenuity. This particularly applies to it is, rather, the organization for the detailed analysis of the reports the arrangements for dive bombing. received that is generally lacking. An Ingenious Arrangement The fact that goods made of raw materials in short supply owing to war conditions are In the first place, a revolutionary type of air brake, on entirely advertised la AIRCRAFT E.VGINSEHI.VO should not be taken as an indication that they aro new lines—except for a certain generic resemblance to the anti-spin necessarily availablo for export. parachute device evolved at Farnborough some years ago, from

Journal

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace TechnologyEmerald Publishing

Published: Aug 1, 1942

There are no references for this article.