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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1409.PDF
MAY 9- J94° 44* A recent picture of a Heinkel He 111 K bomber of the newest type. The wing shape and the characteristic tilting of the enginesare evident. The machine is finished in pale blue on the under surfaces, the remainder being black. Our guns went into action at nice range, and a moment later the Germans sheered off, losing height rapidly. It was a very brief fight, lasting only a few seconds, but we saw many of our tracer bullets entering the Messerschmitt which, we were delighted to learn later, had crashed." A flying officer who comes from Calgary has described a flight to Oslo in the search for enemy warships and trans- ports: "'Oslo for you,' we were told, and at once we became busy. The captains of the aircraft detailed for the flight got to work, installing flying kit and so on, and seeing to it that everything was checked up before we took off. I wouldn't say that most of us are nervy or hit up. We are certainly not. The thing you most feel—at least that I most feel—is a sort of eager impatience to get into the air and be off. It's the kind of feeling one has before an important game begins, only far more intense. Of course, once you're at it you're all right, and the only thought in your head is the job in hand. At five o'clock, having tucked in as much tea as we could, we trooped into the Operations Room to be briefed. Being briefed means being told your target, what the job exactly is, and so forth. At 6.30 p.m. we began to dress for the trip. Just before seven o'clock we got into the aircraft. My fellow pilot and navigator was a Canadian, and with us were two York- shiremen and a Scot. There was a last check to make sure that our rations were aboard—-six flasks of hot coffee, biscuits, nuts, raisins, chewing gum—then we took off. It was a clear, calm evening with a layer of cloud at about eight thousand feet, and up we climbed, heading for the sea. On we went, seeing nothing below us till we were about three-quarters of the way to our target. Then sud- denly the sergeant observer told us we had reached the Skaggerak, and we became all keyed up. A Beautiful Sight " JT was after midnight when we struck the coast, and followed the line, peering down at the dim fjords for signs of enemy shipping. All the towns, including Kristiansand, were lit up; there was no black-out, and the snow-covered mountains behind Oslo Fjord showed up beautifully. There was a moon to aid visibility, and we came down into air that we could breathe. There was no need now to use our oxygen masks. For the best part of an hour we cruised about looking for possible targets such as enemy warships, naval auxiliary vessels or trans- ports. The inspection was thorough, but no ships were seen, and so, disappointedly, we had to turn back for home. Anyhow, we did bring back some useful information, though we missed the excitement of bombing a German warship. It is always exciting to drop a few bombs. The upward lurch as you let go heavy fellows—the sight of them hurtling down to earth or towards their target on the sea, the explosion, the flash of light, the growing fire which, looking back, you may see—yes, these are the visible signs which enable you to go back to your basea nd report that you have achieved the task set you." 0" the night of Monday, April 29, the Fornebu airport near Oslo was raided for the fourth time by the Bomber Command. The raids started at midnight and lasted for over an hour. One of our machines did not return. Nextday (Tuesday, April 30), as large concentrations of aircraft had been reported in Denmark and Norway, strong bomberforces attacked Aalborg, Fornebu, and Stavanger during the night, and kept on raiding on the next morning. In the four days that had elapsed since the last raid onStavanger much of the damage previously inflicted on the landing ground had been made good and large numbersof enemy aircraft were seen on the aerodrome, dispersed round the boundary and hidden in adjoining thickets,when the advance guard of the British raiding force reached the air base in the late afternoon. High explosives andincendiary bombs were dropped on the aerodrome and among the stationary aircraft, and were seen to burstwithin the target area. Meanwhile enemy fighters had taken off to engage the raiders, and in the course of a seriesof running fights one Messerschmitt 109 was shot down by the rear gunner of a Blenheim who, after firing a shortburst, saw his victim turn to port and fall off in a spin. A cloud of black smoke came from the Messerschmittengine, and, still spinning, it crashed head-on into the sea. Neither the British pilot nor his observer was aware oftheir success at the time as their inter-communication set had been put out of action. Another British bomber wasattacked by four Messerschmitt no twin-engined fighters, but by skilful evasive action the pilot was able to eludehis opponents. Bombers Fight Messerschmitts "FOLLOWING soon after the first raid came another and •*- still stronger force of bombers. The aerodrome was still plainly discernible in the evening light, and as the raiders peered at the target, enemy fighters could be seen taking off to intercept and engage them. Approaching the aerodrome in a shallow dive the British bombers launched their attack from different directions, battering the ground defences and registering hits on all parts of the aerodrome. Salvos of high explosive bombs were seen to straddle the principal runways and to explode in a line from the centre of the north-west boundary of the aerodrome. Other heavy bombs burst parallel to the runway and along the side of the landing ground close to enemy aircraft. Build- ings on the north side of the aerodrome were hit, and several fixes, visible from a long distance, were seen to break, out on the north and north-west edges of the aero- drome and near the south end of the adjoining seaplane base. Fighter opposition was intense, and on leaving the target area after dropping their bombs two of our aircraft were seen to be pursued and vigorously engaged by four Messerschmitt 109 and Messerschmitt no fighters. A Messerschmitt 109 closing in on the rearmost bomber was seen to burst into flames and to crash into the sea. A minute later the British bomber came under the concen- trated fire of several attackers and was forced down into the water. Two other British bombers were also engaged by two Messerschmitt 109 fighters, which, attacking front astern and on the quarter, opened fire at 500 yards closing to 200 yards. As the British formation dived fron 2,000ft. almost to sea level their tail gunners returnee
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