the same time, the alr effort in other regions under the Middle Command has been sustained. Italian East Africa. has-been raided 481 times by RAF. alreratt based In Sudan, 906 times by alreratt from Aden and 215 times by aircraft from Kenya. In these regions, the R.A has been splendidly supported by the South African and Rhodesian squad-ons.
Italian bases in Albania have been raided 93 times from Greece and squadrons from Malta have attacked Albania, Italy and Libya 44 times, This account of the air effort docs of include the good work repeated fo have been carried out by. the Fleet Air Arm. Tt also disregards the hundreds "of reconnaissance fights made in cooperation. with military strategists.
It must be remembered that the {ask of British airmen in the Middle East is an ariots one. Malaria, storms, a fierce tropical sun, hurrleanes and extremes of temperature Jada to the ordinary navigation prob-Jems of the desert.
British filers of the Middle East Command are made of stern stuff, The Germans will have a lot to learn about flying under tropical conditions if they attempt to reinforce the much-battered squadrons of the Rela, The RAF. has exe perience of air fighting in desert countries which has proved to be of immense value. It is altogether ditferent from fying in Western Eu-Tope, and British pilots and ground crew are all trained for the Job.
Difficulties of Desert The war in Libya i being fought {in purely desert country. A wind of Uttle more than 10 miles per hour enough to lift dust. "From the ait, looks as though lots of bonfires are being lighted as the dust ywirls up and begins to form a haze. This may. iso {0 as high as 10,000 feet and reduces visibility to practically nothing. Tt needs an experienced pilot to get back to his base when land marks and the landing ground have alt vanished in the dust When mixed with oil, this dust has very much the same effect as car= borundum paste, which is used for grinding in valves. It gots into the earings and cylinders with very de= vastating effect which quickly causes excessive wear and tear {a the one wines.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.