The Epic of the R.A.F.
Among the records of the military events of the last three weeks, most of them disappointing, there has been one unfailing cause of encouragement and congratulation in the amazing exploits of the indomitable men of the R.A.F. Here, at least, the Germans have met not only their match but far more than their match. Though inferior in numbers, so that they cannot be everywhere as the Germans are, they have conducted a ceaseless warfare in which they have superbly won the mastery in aerial combats, and worked havoc among the hostile forces on the ground. Behind the lines they have harassed German communications, flying low to hit tanks, massed columns of transport, troop assemblies, aerodromes, oil storage depots, bridges and railways, and have penetrated into Germany to destroy supplies at the source. Small formations have un- hesitatingly attacked large enemy formations, and have engaged them in battles where incredible victories were won by skill and daring against odds. The evidence is that the R.A.F. have inflicted losses in the air more than three times as great as they have suffered, with the result that the first line of the German Air Force is already considerably weaker than it was. The superiority of the British machines is only part of the explana- tion. The higher morale and skill of our trained pilots cannot be doubted. And, while we naturally concentrate on the achievements of our own compatriots, a tribute equally whole- hearted must be paid to the French Armee de l'Air, which, with its smaller numbers, has acquitted itself as brilliantly as the R.A.F.
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