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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0584.PDF
FLIGHT) AUGUST 4, 1927 AIR DEFENCE EXERCISES. By MAJOR F. A. DE V. ROBERTSON, V.D. Wednesday, 27th, Somewhere in " Westland." I MENTIONED yesterday that when I last heard from the Headquarters of the Wessex Bombing Area yesterday, two raids were in progress, one by No. 39 Bombing Squadron (D.H. 9.A's) via Harwich, and one by No. 12 Bombing Squadron (Foxes) via Newhaven. I have not yet gathered the result of the latter raid. No. 39, however, had a very- rocky time on its way inland, climbing and diving alternately to get through the clouds. It was, moreover, sighted from afar by a fighter squadron, but then the clouds came to its aid and it successfully dodged the deadly pursuers. The bombers found the London district partly obscured by clouds, but they succeeded in locating Kidbrooke and success- fully bombed it. A very creditable piece of work for Squadron- Leader Champion de Crespigny's merry men ! Tuesday Night's Raiding. The dirty weather which had been foretold duly came up from the Atlantic, but very considerately it postponed its arrival until 2 a.m. From sunset up to that hour the sky was almost clear, and the stars were bright. Conditions, in fact, were ideal for testing out the scheme of night defence. It was an exciting night for London, and the lessons learnt were eminently satisfactory. Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Steel entrusted the night attack to the four twin-engined squadrons, Nos. 7, 9, and 58 (Vir- ginias), and No. 99 (Hyderabads). These squadrons had been given a rest during the day, despite the fact that one evening paper described seeing Virginias bombing the Air Ministry. Was the wish father to the thought ? The raids were carried out by single machines. But in order to test the defence scheme, it was arranged that the majority of the raiders should attack from the south and enter through a certain sector where the searchlights were massed. In all, 16 attacks were made up through this illuminated corridor, which almost seemed in danger of becoming an aerial Oxford Street. So 12 other raids were allowed to enter London from the north where the defence preparations were at a minimum and conditions were all in favour of the attack. Londoners, especially those in Hampstead and Highgate, gnashed their teeth as they thought of the searchlights, guns, and fighter squadrons which had been withdrawn to Man- chester. The roar of the Lions brought many good citizens from their beds to the window, and occasionally they glimpsed the navigation lights of their guardian fighters as they ranged through the darkness hunting the unseen foe. It was the rule that during night operations fighters should show lights but bombers should only flash them on for a second or so if they saw fighters near and feared the risk of a collision. Along the coast the special constable observers were ranged in full force with their instruments for detecting raiders and estimating their height. No wireless was employed during the operations, and these watchers were the only source of intelligence and reports. They did splendid work and kept the defence well informed of the approach and progress of .;. raiders. The searchlights, manned by Royal Engineers, were, "i as has been said, massed in one tract. The area in which they worked was only half the depth which they would be given in war, and this somewhat cramped their style. But they, too, were splendidly successful. Sir Robert Brooke-Popham relied for the defence of this illuminated corridor upon the Woodcocks of No. 3 and the Siskins of No. 56 Fighter Squadrons. Squadron Leaders Robb and Elliott-Smith did not fail him. For night work each flight of fighters was stepped down from the centre to the circum- ference of the defended area, and each machine had to keep its altitude. The lowest one would attack first if it got the chance, then the second, and finally the highest. The fighter pilots say that they do not need actually to see an enemy before starting an attack. They rely upon the search- lights getting good information, and where they see two or three beams converging, that is good enough for them. They know that a raider must be somewhere near there, and they go to investigate. There is a certain amount of infused light in the neighbourhood of the beams which sometimes enables them to sight a bomber more easily than when the beams catch it directly. They can also come below and look up- wards, and often can see the bomber against the starlit sky or perhaps against the beam which is glaring up above it. Nos. 3 and 56 had good hunting that night, and none of the 16 raiders in that sector would have got through to their objectives. The defence scored heavily where it was fully organised. The attacks through the darkened north could hardly be held to teach any lessons at all. There were no mishaps, though five of the bombers could not make their home aerodromes and had to land on others. IN A CAMERA OBSCURA, Wednesday, 27th. Another day of variable weather, eminently suitable for raiding. Bright sunshine alternated with local thunder- storms and rain showers. In the morning I went to the target at Chelsea and was permitted to see the portable camera obscura. It was a simple but effective affair. The working had hardly been explained to me before a raid came over. Some 12,00(1 feet up, but still below the layers of moving clouds, we spotted a flight of three bombers—D.H.9a s they seemed to be—and we afterwards learnt that they belonged to No. 207 Squadron. They soon came on to the chart of the camera obscura, moving across its outer circumference. It was fascinating to watch the three little shadow dots tracing their way across the paper. A metronome was set working, and at every tick a pencil mark was made on the paper where the leaders machine was. Afterwards the track was properly connected up. Thus a complete record was kept. The flight came nowhere near the centre of the chart, which indicated the actual target, and passed away out of sight. We learnt afterwards that though we could see them so distinctly, the observers could not see the target at all, probably on account of ground mist. In a few minutes they returned and gave the bombing signal by buzzing on the wireless. But when they did so they were clean outside the scope of the camera obscura. The Duke of York's Head- quarters had escaped, but there was probably dirty work at some other cross roads. It was not a successful raid, although the flight got home without being intercepted. In fact, No. 207 Bombing Squadron did not have a very good day. Earlier that morning it had sent a formation in over Foulness. It reached Chelsea all right and presumably bombed it. But on its return it was caught by Nos. 56 and 111 Fighter Squadrons 4 miles east of Romford and suffered casualties. In the evening it made two more raids. One flight came over Manston at 18-33 hrs. but was attacked by three Grebes over Chiselhurst. Another flight crossed the coast at Rye at 19.00 hrs., and was intercepted over Dulwich by No. 25 Fighter Squadron. The umpires declared that one Grebe and one D.H.9a were shot down. No. 11 Bombing Squadron sent up two raids that day. One was driven back by low clouds and never reached London. In this sort of weather it is not easy to get from Netheravon to London. The second raid came over Shoreham. It was twice caught by No. 32 Fighter Squadron, once over Epsom and again near Kenley. This raid would not have been able to penetrate into London. No. 12 Bombing Squadron did four raids in the day. The first crossed the coast at Bexhill and made good practice on Chelsea without interference. The second came in from Bognor, bound for Uxbridge, but was caught near the coast by No. 43 Fighter Squadron from Tangmere and was shot to pieces. Both the afternoon raids were successful. One flight attacked via Bexhill at 18.15 hrs. and bombed Uxbridge without interference. Another flight came over Shoreham at 18.35 hrs. and dropped its bombs on Uxbridge. It was sighted by No. 41 Fighter Squadron over the target and on its return was attacked over Sutton. But it seems that Foxes are formidable in a fight, and no casualties were given against the bombers. This was the first instance during these operations on which an attack by fighters was adj udged to be a failure. No. 39 Bombing Squadron sent two flights over, one at 18.15 over the Naze, and the other at 18.30 over Harwich. Both raids were successful. The former encountered No. 19 Fighter Squadron to the south of Brentwood, but got free of them without being attacked. The other flight met no defenders. Both dropped their bombs on Chelsea. In the evening the weather prospects were doubtful. I made enquiries of the experts at 21.00 hrs., and they thought there was a chance of night bombing, so 1 went off to Biggin Hill, hopeful of seeing the searchlights really busy. I ha.i had a glimpse at their workings on Monday, but wanted t-> see more. However, by 23.00 hrs. everything was hopelessl • bad, and the night operations were cancelled. As a result the four twin-engined squadrons had a good long rest. The pilots had been sleeping during the day, and must have (Concluded on page 549) 536
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