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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1887.PDF
JULY 4, 1940 WAR IN THE AIR (CONTINUED night an enemry aeroplane dropped a bomb in a field in a southern district. Next day a party of spectators, which included police, military representatives and a Press photographer who had taken a picture of the hole in the earth made by the bomb as it buried itself, were walking away from the spot when the bomb exploded, tearing a big crater in the field. The spectators had just reached a safe distance. The bomb exploded several hours after it was dropped. The seventh raid took place on the night of Thursday- Friday, June 27-28. Once again the Germans flew high, evidently not liking the prospect of being caught in the beams of the searchlights, and accordingly their aim was bad. The raid was described as " almost abortive." Some of the bombers turned back without crossing the coast. If the German air crews are getting practice in flying over Great Britain by night, our searchlight crews are also getting practice in picking up the raiders, and they are benefiting from it. The longer the raiding goes on the better will they become. Last week we mentioned that two bombers had been destroyed by flying into cables of the balloon barrage. The story of one is as follows: Shortly after midnight the balloon crew heard the sound of bombs dropping near a town on the coast. Almost immediately an aircraft was picked up by the searchlights and recognised by the balloon crew as a Junkers 88. The aircraft dived to within 1,000ft. of the ground and the balloon crew took shelter. '' A few seconds later," said one of the crew, "we heard the bomber turn away, its engines giving out a spluttering note. We came from our shelter and examined the pulley wheel of the balloon. We found hundreds of feet of cable lying on the ground and knew that the German bomber must have hit our balloon cable." The crew's story was confirmed when messages came from another balloon site and from an A.A. gun centre stating that the aircraft had been seen falling into the sea. The Coastal Command Busy TF the German raids on Great Britain have been rather •*• harmless, the same cannot be said of the fierce and con- tinuous attacks made by the Bomber Command on the Ruhr and Western Germany, and the other raids in which the Coastal Command have been taking part. So effec- tive have the latter been that some daily papers have begun to speak of the Hudson as a "bomber," whereas the R.A.F. took it on chiefly as a .reconnaissance machine. In particular, one raid by the Coastal Command was a smart piece of work. Reconnaissance had revealed that a new landing ground was being pre- pared at Bomoen, near Bergen. The R.A.F. waited until the work was nearly finished (like the Navy, it likes "something to bite on") and then, early one morning, Coastal machines bombed it. H.E. bombs wrecked the runway with direct hits, and incen- diaries set barrack huts and near-by woods on fire. Before leaving for home our machines flew low and used their machine-guns. Forty fires were counted as they turned back across the North Sea. Ansons, too, can bite back. One day a single machine of this type was on patrol over the English Channel when it was attacked by four Me 109s. One of the fighters was shot down in flames, and the others broke off the engagement, leaving the Anson ROYAL ASSISTANCE : Homingpigeons are carried in Coastal Com- mand aircraft in case of need. Thisparticular pigeon is from the lofts of HJtf, the King. to fly home in safety. There is no doubt our air gunners are very cool and shoot very straight. Pretty well every night, and sometimes by day, too, the Bomber Command grimly works out its programme of destruction in Germany, not forgetting the aerodromes in Holland. To give a mere list of the places attacked each week would be very much like a lesson in rather dull geo- graphy. But, though the official communique's reduce the happenings to the baldest level, it takes little power 01 imagination to picture the grit and determination with which our air crews on each and every raid penetrate into the ring of searchlights and anti-aircraft shells. They take it all very calmly, and their training and experience help them to do the utmost damage with the least loss to them- selves. That experience is mounting up. Their efforts are not without effect. They are holding up German production of munitions in no small degree, and to that extent they are helping to cripple the German war effort and to make things easier for Britain in her lone-hand fight for civilisation. It is known that some German factories "have had to knock off night shifts for as much as a week at a time. A Spirited Raid A VERY spirited raid was made on the German-occupied •**• coastline on Tuesday, June 25. The official account was brief. It stated that in co-operation with the Royal Air Force naval and military raiders carried out successful reconnaissances of the enemy coastline. Landings were effected at a number of points and contact made with German troops. Casualties were inflicted and some enemy dead fell into our hands. Much useful information was obtained and our forces suffered no casualties. It is just an outline picture, and the details have not yet-been filled in. , • . In the meantime, the Fighter Command has not confined its energies to defence. Patrols are still sent out over Northern France. On the same day as the raid mentioned above nine Spitfires of one squadron were there, and presently they saw seven Me 109s at a higher altitude. Both formations began to climb, and a dog-fight followed. While this was in progress ten more Me's of the same type joined in. Our pilots out-manceuvred them and shot down three, while three others were seriously damaged and are be- lieved to have been destroyed. According to a report from Zurich, the German General Fritz Lceb, who was in com- mand of the German air forces on the Dutch and French coasts, was making a reconnaissance flight when a British (Continued on page 11.)
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