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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0580.PDF
190 FEBRUARY 29, 1940 WAR IN THE AIR (CONTINUED) lor a moment he would hit the sea. But he flattened out over the stern, and I came in on his tail two seconds after- wards. At the same moment I noticed that the third air- craft was also diving. As we dived my eyes were riveted on the stern, searching for a name. I saw letters about a foot high. Because of the speed at which we were diving It is some slight con-solation to R.A.F. personnel in France toknow that their opposite numbers on the otherside of the Maginot Line are having anequally tough time. Here is a scene on aHeinkel bomber aero- drome. sick or looking for mines. There was no other sign of life aboard and not the slightest-evi- dence of any alarm. Not a shot was fired from the Altmark's hidden guns. But we could guess that after our three aircraft had flashed over the ship the German crew must have been feeling a bit uneasy. We took note of the Altmark's position, and, having accomplished the task of finding her, we headed for home. How thrilled we were when we heard of the Royal Navy's magnificent operation! '' The three British aircraft returned safely after an eight- hours' flight across the North Sea and back, during which no enemy aircraft was seen. After the rescue of the prisoners from the Altmark, Coastal Command aircraft escorted the Cossack and the other British warships back from Norway to Leith. Thev sighted four mines right in the course of the ships a lew miles off the Scottish coast. The aircraft sank two of France is well into produc-tion with Bloch 151 single- seater fighters as shown onthe left. The engine fitted is the Gnome-Rhone 14N.Below is one of the first pictures to be released of theMesserschmitt Me 109 in production. the letters seemed to dance in a jumble. I expected that when they could be read they would spell a Nor- wegian name. I could not suppress a whoop of joy when I saw that they read Altmark. Of course, we know now that the German had reverted to her own name earlier in the week. The pilot of one of our aircraft told me afterwards that he saw the Alt- mark's name on the stern below what appeared to be a Norwegian flag. All the members of my crew saw the word Altmark. I caught sight of my men out of the corner of my eye. They were not holding one thumb up—the signal of success. Each man had both thumbs up. For a few moments they went wild as we swept across the Altmark's decks at funnel height. I could see only one man on the deck. He was hanging over a rail as if sea-
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