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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0857.PDF
MARCH 21. 1940 " Flight " photograph. A flight of Merlin-Whitleys with the first machine just flattening out to land. Thetwo aircraft behind appear to be coming in more steeply than is actually the case, due to the characteristic tilt of their fuselages.At a HEAVY BOMBER STATION The Work of the Whitleys : Security Patrols : Flights Over Germany and Poland By MAJOR F. A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. VISIONS of billets in France in 1915, with battle-worn infantry, tired, bored, almost depressed bythe seemingly pointless slaughter, yet grimly determined to carry on, rose before my eyes as I wandered round a station somewhere in Great Britain where squadrons of Whitleys have their home. The contrast between the memories of 1915 and my present surroundings was almost unbelievable. On the aero- drome, in the officers' mess, and in the hangars and workshops the routine of peace was being carried on. Everybody was doing his job and everybody seemed to enjoy doing it. Cheerfulness was in the air, and the hospitality of the Royal Air Force was as much in evi- dence as ever. This visit seemed so little unlike many other visits which I have paid to Air Force stations in peacetime that it was hard to realise that a war was on. ught-hearted young officers and airmen showed one round, discussing the merits of their aircraft, engines <*nd equipment, but mentioning casually how they be- haved in warlike operations. It was hard to take it in that these young men had flown again and again for hundreds of miles over the lands and waters of our bitterlo e-—in fact a number of them were going to do it alla gam that night. Most of those told off for flying that night were resting, but some were up and about. Two pilots were in the mess who were bound for Posen in Poland that night, and ir: matter-of-fact tones they discussed their plans, the route they would take and the height at which the ' proposed to fly. Others were bound for the Ruhr that night, to see what they could see. One described his sensations the first time an anti-aircraft shell burst fairly near him; surprise was his principal reaction, and apparently a rather welcome break in the monotony of a long flight in the dark. Another pilot was much intrigued by the "flaming onions" he had seen. They had been red, but he had heard that other men had seen some oi different colours, and he was interested to hear that in " Flight " photograph. Group Captain Hunter whocommands the station.
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