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Azores Puts Protective Umbrella Over Segment of Exposed Atlantic Most Desirable Shipping Lanes, Formerly in Triple Peril Zone, Now are Guarded Fully by Planes, Seversky Says By ALEXANDER P. deSEVERSKY From the standpoint of air power, the acquisition of the Azores represents one of the most valuable developments in the history of this war. Besides its use as a naval harbor, its over-all effect is that it enables us to open up an umbrella of protective aviation over virtually the entire North Atlantic. More accurately, we can now open up three umbrella-three great arcs of aviation patrol-that overlap to make a solid roof of aerial protection for our shipping. Visualize one of those immense umbrellas planted on the Azores, the other two on Gibraltar and Newfoundland. Together they offer an uninterrupted canopy. Heretofore our shipping could enjoy this vital air shield only on the so-called norther route, by way of Greenland and Iceland. This involved immense dangers and difficulties during a considerable part of the year, when cold, fog, shleet and other weather conditions made the going hazardous. With the Azores at our disposition, the more desirable and safer southern route will be open. With both lanes subject to protection by our present aircraft, a terrific gain is made in keeping supply lines open. The Azores island of Santa Maria is about 1,000 miles from Lisbon and only slightly farther from Gibraltar. By a two-way overhead patrol with land-based bombers we can give effective cover to a segment of ocean of crucial importance to our European campaigns and one that has been especially infested with Nazi submarines. Heretofore most of this area could be patrolled only by carrier aviation, which is subject to a threefold enemy threat: from the air, from underseas and from the surface of the sea, when German raiders are on the loose. The land-based planes that will now take over the task, by contrast are menaced only by opposing aviation. Fortunately, our Flying Fortresses and Liberators are sufficiently armed to guard shipping against attack by four-engine Focke-Wulf Kuriers, at the same time that they hunt down and sink U-boats. Until the Nazis can put something superior into the air, we can unquestionable bring more fire power into action than the Focke-Wulfs. The distance from the westernmost Azores to St. Johns, Nfld., is about 1,600 miles. It, too, therefore, can be canopied by continuous air power, half working out of the Azores, the other half out of Newfoundland. Indeed with the bigger American bombers that ought soon to be in action, it should be possible to stretch that two-way aerial cover from New York to the Azores, a distance of only 2,000 miles. If Portugal should join the United Nations as a full belligerent, a possibility now so widely rumored, the large-scale invasion of Europe by the way of Portugal may become a reality. In that event, obviously, the value of the Azores in guarding the immense shipping for support of an invasion would become incalculably high. Despite generally rough terrain, the Azores offer magnificent facilities for basing large aerial forces. Santa Maria has an ideal plateau formation, about two miles by three-quarters of a mile. It is shaped rather like an aircraft carrier, in that there is an abrupt slope on all sides. The island of San MIguel has a big field, already in working order for some time, that can readily be enlarged to take care of our bombers. But the best natural field is on the island of Terceira; it is a huge plateau, more or less circular, some five miles in diameter. Most of the other islands are unsuited for big airfields, though Ayal can offer a number of good bases for pursuit aviation. In addition, of course, there are any number of protected water areas ideal for amphibian aircraft. With Azores available to us, the Battle of the Atlantic tends to become increasingly an air battle. Eventually, we may be sure, all our Atlantic shipping will be safeguarded by air force, which is without doubt the most efficient protection that can be given to sea lanes. Thus, more and more sea power becomes the ward of air power. Distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Inc.
