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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0527.PDF
FEBRUARY 22, 1940 It>7 in the Am Fights Over the North Sea : A French Success : Photographing Germany NOW that Britain is not publishingweather reports the German meteorolo-gists must be having a very trying time. The private citizen often jeers at our weather forecasts because they do not tell him for cer- tain if it will be safe for him to leave his umbrella at home to-day. But that is a matter of local forecasting, which is very different from the weather plotting which has to be studied before large-scale military operations can be undertaken. The meteorologist must be able to plot a large chart extending roughly from the Ural Mountains to half-way across the Atlantic if he is to know the relation of depres- sions and anti-cyclones, and on that chart most of the weather comes from the West. The German meteorologist now finds half his chart blank, and that the most important half. However, during the great freeze last month our papers reported that trains were held up and that there was heavy snow over much of Great Britain, whereas there was only light snow lying in Germany. That must have told the Germans a lot about the lie of the depressions, etc., and accordingly they must have presumed that our fighter aeroplanes would be snow- bound and that, therefore, their raiders would for once have a safe passage as they attacked helpless merchant- men. Their presumption was correct, but they had not counted on the energy of the R.A.F. The aerodromes were cleared and the fighters took off. One squadron brought down three, and perhaps four, Heinkels within a week, and also did a number of hours of night flying. In our last issue we briefly recorded that one raider was brought down near North Berwick on Friday, February 9, but there were other encounters that day. One Spitfire on patrol far out at sea chased a Heinkel right through a cloud bank, and the two machines exchanged fire when they emerged above it. The Spitfire was not hit, and the Heinkel disappeared once more into the shelter of clouds. About noon the same day a patrol of Hurricanes sighted two Heinkels off the North-East Coast, one flying to the North and the other to the West. The Hurricane pilot used his speed, and managed to get within range and fire bursts at first one and then the other before they reached the sanctuary of the clouds. Riddling the Raiders Arbroath some fighters hunted off three Heinkels which were flying low over the water, and sent some bullets after them. Near Peterhead other fighters went to the help of a tanker which was being bombed. As the avengers approached, the raider, which was thought vo be a Junkers bomber, climbed for all it was worth into the clouds. These various incidents show how large a part the clouds play in the Luftwaffe's campaign against mer- chant shipping off our coasts. It is dirty work, but the fact that the German pilots open their throttles and make for the clouds at the first glimpse of Hurricanes or Spit- fires is no reflection on their courage ; it is simply common- sense tactics. If the sky were clear they would not have the faintest hope of escaping destruction, and when clear weather returns the fishermen may expect a relief from O1 A destroyer steaming at the rate of knots glimpsed through the window of a Saro London. the murderous assaults which they have so stoutly endured. In connection with this campaign against the murderous raiders, it is pleasing to learn that the fighter squadron which was formed with the /ioo.ooo gift from the Nizam of Hyderabad to the Royal Air Force has shot down its first enemy aircraft. It is the first of the newly formed fighter squadrons to win a scalp. Its victim was one ol the three Heinkels brought down during raids on shipping on February 3. A souvenir of the combat in the form of a rubber boat is now housed in the squadron's rest room. The Heinkel crashed into the sea in Creswell Bay, North- umberland. Three of the crew took to their rubber boat, but high seas swept them overboard. Their bodies have been washed ashore. Pieces of wreckage from the Heinkel have strewn the seashore and the pilots of the victorious squadron have been given some of the bullet-riddled metal as souvenirs. One large piece is to be beaten into a shield and engraved with the squadron's crest. Nearly all the Dominions as well as Great Britain are represented among the pilots. The Commanding Officer is a native of Woolwich. He led the attack on the Heinkel and gave the coup de grace. This officer joined an Auxiliary squadron when he left school is 1929 and a year later secured a short-service commission in the R.A.F. He was attached to a Fighter Squadron in 1931 and was for some time on service with the squadron in the Near East. On his return to England he became an instructor. At the end of 1938 he went into the Organisations Branch at the Air Ministry, where he remained until he was given his present command. There was more raiding on Tuesday, February 13th. In the evening three Spitfires were patrolling at a grea.t height off the Thames estuary. Just as daylight was fading they saw a Heinkel in a thousand feet above them. The Germans saw the fighters, too, and the pilot began a long twisting dive towards a patch of cloud far beneath him, trying by his manosuvres to throw the fighters off theii aim. The Spitfires put their noses down, each in turn
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