Britain has not lost sight of the possibility of a German attempt at invasion from the air. The reception given to German raiders over he British Isles during the last two weeks, with the heavy loss they have suffered, is undoubtedly a deterrent to the Nazi General Staff. They invasion can be successful in the such a terrific cost. There is a possibility, however, that an invasion attern might be made with gliders, which are soundless and could defy the detector apparatus which is proving so effective in spotting Nazi bombers. The idea is that the Germans would tow troop-carrying gliders to a great height, and allow them then to glide down on the British Isles and land at certain specified point It is known that the Germans have not only developed glider planes for the land, but also have produced an adequate glider plane for the sea. These planes can be made to take off by being towed by a fast machine, and several of them linked together by cables, can be mi into a glider train. The Russians are proba the most advanced army in experimenting with this type of machine, and they have evolved a form of braked drum which solves the difficulty of having a large space for the take-off. The pilot plane and its gliders can thus be grouped together on the ground in a ver 1 space. The pilot plane takes off, and t der immediately behind it pays out enough cable to allow the pilot machine to get off the groun It then puts brakes on the cable drum and is in its turn carried off the ground. The thing happens with other machines in This has been proved to work in Soviet Ru: and it is known that the scheme has be adopted and probably improved upon in Germany. A quick release gear has been devised by which it can be assured that, if anything happens to any one glider in the train, the rest of the train can separate themselves and that the whole train need not be wrecked. A glider which can carry at least fourteen men weighs about 6,000 2b. it can be towed by the ordinary medium bomber without any appreciable loss of speed by the bomber. The Germans have gone a long way in research into the possibilities of glider trains. Before the war, the official glider organization, the Nationalsoz: alistisches Fliegercorps had 5:000 sailplanes and training gliders. It also controlled 465 camps and twenty-five fully-equipped sliding schools. The R.A.F. have also not overlooked the potentialities of this type of flying and, while their experiments have rot received the same publicity as those conducted in Russia and Germany, great progress has been made. It is unlikely that the R.A.F. could be taken by surprise in the event of a Nazi attempt at glider invasion. It is known that the Nazis have transported a large number of gliders to Norway, and the R.A.F. are keep-a close watch on them. The glider is, as can easily be understood, very vulnerable wh opposed by an engined machine, and there should be little chance of any getting through, once it was known that they had taken the air,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.