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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2304.PDF
II / 13° AUGUST 15, 1940 are timed to explode beneath the sur- face of the sea. Then a shuddering and a disturbance of the water;* and masses of dark brown oil coming up. These tell what has happened in the sea below. Other U-boats, which we caught by surprise on the surface, proved easy prey. Some of my pilots nave seen their heavy bombs burst right on the hulls. Now, of course, there aren't so many U-boats about. Now that Germany threatens to in- vade this country from Norway, our work has become even more vital. If Germany should ever attempt a mass crossing of the North Sea, my crews may well be the first British subjects to find it out. It might be on their reports that the whole of our anti- invasion system of defence would spring into operation. Please don't think for a moment that a reconnaissance, say, of the North Sea or Norwegian coast is just a question of flying over there, taking a few photographs, making observa- tions, and flying back. I wish it were as simple as that. But the Germans have established a very excellent sys- tem of coast defences, specially de- signed to keep our aircraft from doing the jobs we want them to do. ••'•• •. • So we have to look out for such hazards as enemy fighters patrolling the coast and anti-aircraft fire which is of an accuracy not to be sneezed at. It is on such occasions that we use our Hudsons as fighters. To match an aircraft built for reconnaissance work against a modern fighter is rather like putting a retired boxing champion against the newest holder of the title. The fighters have an advan- tage over us in speed, but we carry pretty useful arma- ment, and our big aircraft can take an enormous amount of punishment. You would be surprised if you could see the condition of some aircraft which our pilots bring home. One of my Pilot Officers—who, by the way, has just received the D.F.C.—is making quite a habit of bringing back what one might describe as a bundle of shell holes held together by "They are all grand types, and I should like to make special mention of the wireless operators." The wireless operator signals with an Aldis lamp to the other aircraft of the formation. pieces of fuselage. I was aghast when I saw the holes in his last two efforts. You could crawl through the gashes in the wings and petrol tanks. In one case the under- carriage folded up as he landed. In the other, although it stayed in position, one tyre was shot to pieces and made the aircraft sink dangerously. Admirable for Reconnaissance There's no doubt about it, our Hudsons are first-class aircraft for the job of reconnaissance. They have far more room in them than the average Service machine; indeed, there's the same internal space as in the civil counterpart, the Lockheed 14 airliner, in which some of you have probably flown before the war. There is a row of windows in each side of the cabin, a folding bed, hot and cold air regulator—in fact, every modern con- venience. The seats, of course, have been taken out, and there is a gun turret in the tail. The operational performance, too, is exceptionally good. The fact that we use these landplanes so much for long reconnaissance over the sea speaks for itself. Nobody ever worries about engine failure, which used to cause so much anxiety in the last war. A typical remark was made by one of my pilots as he taxied in the other day after a long trip. He turned to his navigator and said, " You'd think these blinking engines would go on turning over for ever." And now I'll tell you a little about the lads who do this work. They are the advance scouts of our defence sys- tem, and they accept gladly the risks of the scout—the danger of running into enemy forces and the prospect of lone fights with the odds against you, where you know that if you survive the fight you have a long slog back, perhaps damaged, over the sea to your base. There is little glamour in our work. It is rather like the Northern patrols of the Navy—loneliness, monotony, danger of dirty, weather. But it is (Concluded at foot of page 134).
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