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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0492.PDF
154 FEBRUARY 15, 1940 in the Am Toy Balloons : A Thorough Survey The Prime Minister's Statement : Aerial Combat \ FTER the raid on shipping on Saturday, February 3, r\ in which our fighters shot down three German •^- -*• bombers and seriously crippled two more, all activity in the air came to a stop for several days. The worst damage which the raiding did to us was the crippling of the minesweeper H-M.S. Sphinx. She was damaged by bombs on the Saturday and her engines were disabled. She was being towed into port, but the tow parted in very heavy seas, and finally she capsized. Commander J. R. N. 'Taylor, R.N., the CO., and four ratings are known to have lost their lives, while four oiucers and 45 ratings are missing and must be presumed lost. The survivors consisted of two officers and 44 ratings. A little light relief to the prevailing monotony which had obtained for four days was afforded on Wednesday, Feb. 7. when a number of small red balloons used by the meteorological people were picked up in various parts of the country. Apart from the fact that they contain hydro- gen and can, therefore, explode if brought in contact with a naked flame, they are quite harmless. But they caused no little perturbation among the uninitiated, and in one district the police issued a notice that they might have been let loose by the Germans, and might contain poison gas. It is strange to realise how little some people know about the normal activities of the Air Ministry. Flight Lieutenant Robert Voase Jeff, a pilot in an army co-operation squadron, has been decorated with the Croix de Guerre by Gen. Vuillemin, commanding VArmee de I Air. Flight Lieutenant Jeff last November attacked two Heinkels and shot one of them down. Aerial Photography T*HE publication of photographs taken by the Royal Air -*• Force during flights over Germany brings home more forcibly than any mere description can, our intimate know- ledge of the situation behind the enemy lines and the organisation and skill that went to the procuring of it. Germany would find it very difficult secretly to prepare any military surprises. Every sort of potential military objective is being inspected and photographed from the air, and the survey is kept constantly up to date. To know the state of the enemy's defences at the outbreak of war is not enough ; only periodical reconnaissance will keep the Allied High Command informed of the progress of new works. We know from week to week what changes are made in German naval harbours and aerodromes, what vessels are building, what additional fortifications are being carried out, and what is the state of traffic on roads and canals. Our aircraft have flown along the whole length of the Siegfried Line, sometimes not more than a few hundred feet above it. The photographs taken identify not only the fortifications as a whole but also the principal details of these objectives, such as barracks, railway stations, arsenals and factories. To obtain this information both courage and skill are required. The cameras may do their work at heights as great as 20,000ft., but even there the airman is hardly safe from interruption by hostile aircraft and fire from anti-aircraft batteries. As some of the photographs make plain, our aircraft come down as low as 2,000ft. when precise details are required. The airman must be able to endure for many hours temperatures so low that ice forms inside the aircraft and even on the airscrews. He must show cunning in overcoming severe natural obstacles and in pending enemy fire. BATTLE DRESS: A Bristol Blenheim Reconnaissance-bomber(top) and a Hawker Hurricane 8-gun fighter in flight over France. It will be noted that the red, white and blue mark-ings are dc rigueur. (Courtesy of British Movietonews.) With the usual mosaic picture, which is pieced together from a number of separate vertical " shots," it is possible to extract all important information from the scene, even without the occasional help of the oblique view, which covers more country in a single exposure, but is mainly useful because it gives some slight effect of elevation to the objects shown. Yet every photograph to be read has its own problems. There is not always such a plain object as a haystack or a pond or a railway siding or a jetty ; and though after a time certain classes of objects are immediately recognis- able by the trained observer, there are always fresh ones to be picked out and identified. Mr. Chamberlain's Remarks TPHE Prime Minister made another statement on Thurs- -*• day, February 8, in the House of Commons on the pro- gress of the war. First he alluded to the meeting of the supreme War Council in Paris on Monday, February 5, at which he was accompanied by, among others, the Air Minister, War Minister and First Lord, and the three Chiefs of Staff. Mr. Chamberlain then turned to recent air activi- ties. "Little has happened," he said, "in the several theatres of war that is not already known to the House. There has been no change in the military situation on the Western Front. In the air winter conditions have exposed men and material during the last few weeks to the sternest test of their adequacy. The strain on our Air Force has been severe, but it has been borne without flinching. A great deal of active service flying must continue whatever the weather, and no praise can be too high for the men who have carried on their duties in the teeth of such conditions. "I need not repeat here accounts which have appeared in the Press of air activities, but I cannot pass over with- out notice the very skilful combined operation by which naval patrol vessels and a Royal Air Force flying-boat succeeded in destroying a submarine which ventured to attack a convoy. Attacks by German aeroplanes on British and neutral rhips, which have recently increased in in- tensity, are claimed by the enemy as great victories in the war against British shipping. These raids are generally carried out on days when low, thick clouds cover the ship- ping lanes. They are made by aeroplanes singly or in pairs at widely separated points, and it would appear that in- structions have been given to enemy pilots to do their utmost to avoid contact with our defences.
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