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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1636.PDF
506 JUNE 6, 1940 WAR IN THE AIR (CONTINUED) damaged Hurricane safe to England from France after an extraordinary experience. The aircraft was severely damaged before the pilot left on his-journey home. The gun-sights were gone, and the only instruments working were his compass and oil-temperature and pressure gauges. He had no incendiary or tracer ammunition, but his eight machine guns were loaded with ordinary ammunition. The pilot was concerned chiefly about the starboard petrol tank which was leaking. He,"therefore, decided to land at an aerodrome in Northern France to refuel before continuing his flight to England. When he was .approaching the aero- drome he saw that part of the town near-by was in flames, and, just as he was preparing to come down from 5,000ft., he observed two Dorniers 215 begin a dive-bombing attack on the aerodrome. Immediately he got on the tail of one and gave it two short bursts. There was no doubt that he hit the enemy aircraft, although he had no gun-sights. The second German machine tried to escape in the clouds, but the Hurricane pilot followed it, blazing away with his guns. Having got rid of the two Dorniers, the New Zealander was about to land when he was attacked by a number of Messerschmitt fighters. Unable to cope with all of them immediately, he circled the town for about ten minutes, giving them occasional bursts. When he landed at the aerodrome, he found that his starboard tank was spurting petrol. The men on the. ground refused to fill his tanks, saying that it would be suicide to go up again in that machine. So the pilot had to compromise. He had his port tank fuelled, and with a bayonet widened the holes in the punctured tank to allow the fuel to escape. Then he took off again, although he had only 50 rounds left in each of his eight machine guns. " With only that small amount of ammunition I was almost helpless," he said later. " It was just my luck to run into another formation of six Messerschmitts when I was practically out of petrol. Anyway, I gave the leader a burst as he came head-on for me (I'm sure I hit him), and I dived down past him towards the ground. After that I just ' put my skates on ' for home. It was good fun—that flight. But what would I not have given for more ammunition to deal with the Messer- schmitts ! " , Heavy German Losses "DETWEEN 5.30 and 9.30 on the morning of Sunday, •*-' May 26, R.A.F. squadrons shot down at least 20 Ger- man bombers and fighters and put another 20 out of action. There were only five British casualties in these four hours of fierce fighting. A continuous air battle was fought over the French coast between Calais and Dunkerque. Pilots reported that "the sky was filled with aircraft." A squadron leader spoke of encountering "large masses of Messerschmitt 109s." One formation of Tu. 88s was try- ing to bomb ships when a Spitfire squadron approached. Five Messerschmitt no twin-engined fighters protecting the bombers were put out of action, and one of the bombers was destroyed. This brought the squadron's "bag" of enemy aircraft in three days to 32. Twenty Messerschmitt nos were surprised 17,000ft. over Calais. Approaching from the sun, British fighters broke up the defensive circles which the Nazi fighters tried to form. The Messerschmitts twisted and turned in their efforts to manoeuvre into a more favourable position, but the Britkh fighters put five of them out of action. An hour and a half later the same squadron destroyed five more Messerschmitts, damaged another five, and brought down an army co-operation aircraft. A fight starting at 10,000ft. ended low over the French fields, with Junkers 87 dive-bombers " hedge-hopping " in all directions as they tried to escape from the attacking Spitfires. Before their protecting Messerschmitts could arrive the Spitfires shot down five and damaged three more. Monday, May 27, was the best day for British fighters since the in\*asion of the Low Countries. They destroyed or seriously damaged seventy-nine German raiders. Fifty were seen to crash and the other twenty-nine flew off dis- abled. Fourteen of our Hurricanes and Spitfires were missing, though some of the pilots are believed to be safe. For sixteen hours the fighter pilots patrolled the sky over the battlefields and the French and Belgian ports. The first Messerschmitt 109 was destroyed by Spitfires before 6 a.m. The last Dornier 215 bomber was shot down by Hurricanes just before 9 p.m. It was a bad day for the German Messerschmitt fighters. Twenty-two of them were destroyed and another nine put out of action. The same night, May 27, heavy bombers attacked mili- tary objectives at Dusseldorf, Duisberg, Dortmund, Ham- burg, Bremen and Cologne. All our aircraft returned, one shooting down an enemy scout over Holland. No fewer than 52 enemy aircraft were shot down on Wed- nesday, May 29, including 25 bombers. Seventeen others were seriously damaged. Ten of our fighters are missing, but one of the pilots, although wounded, has since returned safely. The Maastricht Bridge /^ENERAL GEORGES, Chief of Staff to Allied Genera- ^-* lissimo Weygand, recently sent a message of congratu- lations to an R.A.F. bomber squadron in France. It read: "Messieurs, je vous remercie"—"Gentlemen, I thank you." This compliment was given for destroying the famous bridge over the Meuse. All the bridges over the Meuse near Maastricht, where the Germans were making their thrust to divide the Allied forces, had been blown up except one. Over that bridge poured the tanks and armoured units of the enemy advance. Stores, petrol, ammunition— everything came over that one bridge. It was heavily defended. A.A. guns kept up a barrage of fire, enemy fighters maintained constant patrols. Eight attacks were made by our bombers. The river banks were shattered by high explosives ; fighters were shot down in flames; A.A. batteries bombed out of action. But no direct hit was scored on the bridge. Still the enemy advances poured over that one crossing. At the R.A.F. squadron head- quarters the commanding officer made a short speech to his pilots. The bridge must be destroyed. Volunteers were wanted. The pilots stepped forward as one man. So they wrote their names on slips of paper and put them in a hat. Four crews were chosen. They went off with- out waiting. Fighters went up as escort and they made straight for the bridge at Maastricht. Our fighters took on the enemy's fighter guard, welcoming all odds to give the bombers their chance. Facing a blizzard of enemy fire the bombers dived low on their target. Of those four crews one man came back.- But the bridge at Maastricht was blown up. Both Army and Navy have testified to the great work done by the R.A.F., helped at times by the Fleet Air Arm, in relieving the pressure on the embarkation of the B.E.F. at Dunkerque. On Wednesday, May 29, our fighters destroyed at least 70 enemy aircraft. On Friday, May 31, the F.A.A. bombed German columns on roads, and one pilot saw his bombs make a direct hit on a large open tour- ing car escorted by two motor cycle outriders. On that day 56 enemy aircraft were destroyed or seriously damaged, while 16 of our fighters were missing. That day, it may be recalled, was the anniversary of the battle of Jutland. Next day, the "Glorious First of June," another anni- versary of a British naval victory, our fighters shot down or severely damaged 78 German bombers and fighters, of which 42 were seen to crash into the sea off Dunkerque. One Spitfire squadron that day shot down 18 enemy air- craft. Sixteen of our machines failed to return. On June i the petrol and oil stores at Rotterdam were bombed once more by the Coastal Command, and the crews who took part believe that those stores have now been totally destroyed. A most remarkable feat on that same day was a victory of three Avro Ansons over nine Messerschmitt 110s between Calais and Ostend. Two of the enemy were shot down, two were disabled and the rest flew away.
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