Brewster Buffalo triumphant!

[JDK]

Well, when advertised by Brewster...





It wasn't like that in reality - Starting with the lack of Japanese Messerschmitt 110s!

[Oscar Duck]

You're reading this with the benefit if hindsight.

For example the Tony fighters were reported as Me109's in SWPA. Buffalos did actually aquit themselves well in Finland and did have some success in Malaya etc. The Allied tactics were to blame as much as the aircraft. Also lack of spares and a fast moving war created many issues for serviceability etc.

Another isssue was in maintaining morale. {K.Rudd take notice}

[JDK]

You're reading this with the benefit if hindsight.

Yup! However the Air Min telegram's pushing the boundaries of truth a lot - with the benefit of hindsight.

There are layers of meaning, though. One reason we were in such strife and relying on inadequate types like the Buffalo was because we a) believed our own PR and b) ignored better reports of Japanese capability.

For example the Tony fighters were reported as Me109's in SWPA.

And lots of aces in the Battle of Britain reported shooting down 'Heinkel 113s', which miraculously became 109s in their autobiographies. Hindsight informs a lot, but there's also the care of forgetting our errors, misunderstandings and mistakes from then, which appear from these kind of reviews.

Buffalos did actually aquit themselves well in Finland and did have some success in Malaya etc. The Allied tactics were to blame as much as the aircraft. Also lack of spares and a fast moving war created many issues for serviceability etc.

The Finns' success is well known, indeed. I absolutely agree that the Squadrons in Singapore could have been equipped with Sea Furies or Bearcats and still would've come second. Cutting out the Gin Slings and dances would've been a help too, but poor tactics were their greatest handicap, coupled with western arrogance and ignorance of Japanese military capability. That led to the problem of having to retreat a long way very quickly, causing the supply problem. The good news is ours got shorter, theirs got longer and the tide was turned.

It's convenient to forget that the Japanese attacked partly because they spotted our weakness at the time. Lucky the Allies and American production was tougher than they expected.

Another issue was in maintaining morale. {K.Rudd take notice}

This kind of bull PR is counter productive of morale as people realise it's evidently untrue. Much better to face that things are tough and changes are needed than quickly evident self-delusional chaff like this.

One of the dubious aspects of history is we like to forget these kind of reminders of self-delusion or mismanagement and focus on the bravery (rightly, in part) of the early war and success of the later war.

Cheers,

[k5083]

Indeed James, and even the benefits of hindsight are uneven. Every time I go to a WW2 themed airshow, I listen to standard announcer patter that contains many historical misstatements, major and minor, that started with wartime PR and have since proven unsubstantiated or untrue. Some of the myths would swiftly be debunked on an informed forum such as this; others are cherished even here. Ads like the one you posted remind us that the benefits of scepticism at the time are even greater than the benefits of hindsight, but are all too often suspended where war and national pride are involved.

August

[RyanShort1]

Indeed James, and even the benefits of hindsight are uneven. Every time I go to a WW2 themed airshow, I listen to standard announcer patter that contains many historical misstatements, major and minor, that started with wartime PR and have since proven unsubstantiated or untrue. Some of the myths would swiftly be debunked on an informed forum such as this; others are cherished even here. Ads like the one you posted remind us that the benefits of scepticism at the time are even greater than the benefits of hindsight, but are all too often suspended where war and national pride are involved.

August

Good post! That kind of stuff often irritates me as well. There've been times when I wanted to go grab the mic away from certain announcers. The sad thing is that certain organizations incorporate these myths into their own announcer's canned talks. Tora in particular comes to mind much as I love their show.

Ryan

[fotobass]

Is this guy shooting down a P-51B?

[JDK]

Is this guy shooting down a P-51B?

Uh, it gets worse, eh?

[Mudge]

JDK wrote:
This kind of bull PR is counter productive of morale as people realise it's evidently untrue. Much better to face that things are tough and changes are needed than quickly evident self-delusional chaff like this.

I'm sorry, but the first thing that came to mind when I read this was, "Wouldn't Mr. Greenwood have a field day with this statement."

But you're right. (Like you need my "props".) Brings to mind the old adage;
"Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story".

Mudge the repository of anything old.
(Especially my body parts )

[JDK]

I thought I'd dig further.

In Flight, January 1st, 1942, page 4:

Messesrchmitt 110s have been in action in/the Malayan theatre of war. An R.A.F. pilot in a Brewster Buffalo had crossed the Thai border on reconnaissance when he was attacked by four of these German machines which came at him 14 times. His duty was to get back with his information, which meant avoiding a fight if possible. He found that his Buffalo was so much more manoeuvrable than the two-engined German fighters that he was able to escape. He was afterwards attacked by Japanese naval aircraft, but they were not fast enough to catch him. Then more Me 110s appeared, but the Buffalo got back safely.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... ch=Buffalo

A couple more pieces:

Outlook, January 29 1942

Japanese Bombers and Fighters
SO far as can be judged from the official communiques, Japanese bombing is not distinguished by great accuracy of aim. No doubt when the same bombers were raiding flimsy Chinese cities it did not matter very much where the bombs fell, and then there was little inducement to strive after precision and pin-pointing. So the bomb-aimers lack experience. Japanese fighters, on the other hand,' whose experience cannot have been much more instructive (though many Chinese do take readily to the air), have met with some surprising successes in their encounters with British and Australian pilots. On a number of occasions lately the losses on each side have been roughly equal, and so far there has been no case in which our Buffaloes, or whatever other fighters we could then raise, have shot down Japanese fighters on anything like the scale to which we have become accustomed when meeting Germans or Italians in Europe or the Middle East. In a recent raid on Singapore, for example, when about 90 heavy Japanese bombers came over with a fighter escort, the enemy lost 13 machines, but nine of them fell to the A.A. guns and only four to our fighters. Again, in one raid on the island of Rabaul (which is an Australian Mandate) three Japanese machines fell to the fire of the A.A. guns, while the Australians lost five aircraft. There have been other similar cases.
Everybody knows that the Japanese are a fanatically brave people, but Britons from the Far East have net reported that they very often make good air pilots. When brave but not highly skilled fighters meet British fighters from any part of the Empire, the usual result is a holocaust of the enemy. A likely explanation might be that hitherto the Japanese have enjoyed great superiority in numbers—but the Germans often enjoyed the same advantage in the Battle of Britain. So the mystery remains. However, Hurricanes have now appeared on the Malayan front, and as soon as they get into action the enemy losses began to increase.

Some mixed messages here. My reading is Flight can't square the up-beat communiqués with the losses reported and the collapsing front line.

"Carping Spirit" Must be Checked
IT is fortunate that Edward P. Warner's well-balanced views appear in your issue (February 6th) at the same time as the quotations extracted from the American Press, particularly when the '' Man in the Street'' is reading in our daily press that the Buffaloes and other American aircraft are being out-maneuvered in Singapore, and note we were outclassed until the Hurricanes arrived.
...

Extract from a letter from WJ Lord, Feb 19th 1942.

He then goes to to say that Britons should sound tougher when in America. It's a point, I suppose! Still, it sounds like the US press were a bit more accurate than the UK one at the time.

As ever, the needs of censorship and security battle against the need for a well informed population in a democracy. Otherwise how do we know our warriors are well directed and supplied?

Interesting...

[SPANNERmkV]

Mudge got himself some spiffy new duds!
Looking good!

Un-hijacking the thread...
Won't speculate about truth and objectivity of the press during wartime.
But what is an Ad Man to do when writing copy?
"Our Brewster Buffalos Blow Big Time!"???
"Better to just shoot yourself with your sidearm than to fly our crates"

Hindsight? Hubris on our part?

gotta go to work.

SPANNER