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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2411.PDF
AUGUST 29, 1940 WAR IN THE AIR (CONTINUED) heavy attack was launched on Portsmouth. None of the raids escaped unscathed. Over Ramsgate one Hurricane pilot shot down three Ju 88s and one Me 109. A Polish sergeant in a Hurricane bagged a bomber and a fighter. A squadron of Defiants was in action three times during the day, and in one battle shot down three Ju 88s and one Heinkel 113 fighter. Later in the day the Defiants in- creased their bag. The A.A. gunners also had a good day, bringing down a number of enemy aircraft. A trawler joined in the good work by shooting down two bombers. The German losses during the day were 50. Late at night raiders came over London and incendiary bombs caused fires in parts. These were quickly brought under control by the fire brigades. While that was going on our bombers were as busy as usual over the Continent, and Italy received another visit. Targets at Milan and Sesto Calende were raided. In Ger- many the most important raid was directed against the Daimler-Benz works at Stuttgart. Activities on the German side rather subsided again on Sunday, August 25. One rather sensational incident was a 50-mile chase of a Heinkel 111 by a Spitfire, which ended in the bomber bursting into flames and crashing into the sea just after it had reached the coast. There were bom- bers over London again at night. ..- : : Bardia Bombarded A SPIRITED naval action, with air support, took placeon August 17 off the coast of Libya, when our Fleet bombarded the port of Bardia and demolished the much- disputed fort of Capuzzo. The machines of the Fleet Air Arm spotted for the guns, and Hurricanes of the R.A.F. acted as air escort for the Fleet. The Italian bombers presently came out to attack the ships, and the Hurricanes engaged them. One of our pilots gave the following de- scription of the air combat:—"I arrived just as five S 79s had dropped their bombs, all well astern of the Fleet, and were making off," he said. "One was immediately shot down in flames, evidently hit by anti-aircraft fire from the battleships. I picked on the leader and gave him about eight short bursts. He fell away and landed in our lines. There were 600 bullet-holes in the 'plane. I had just got a second burst into another machine when it went down in flames. The 'plane was much too close for comfort, so I swerved away just as the crew baled out. The third remaining 'plane was diving like mad for the clouds. I gave him three or four long bursts, whereupon he disap- peared with one engine smoking. I think he went into 'the Drink.' These Italian aircraft seem to be built of plywood. At any rate, you have to dodge the pieces that come flying back at you when you fire your guns." An Italian seaplane was shot down in flames by Gladiator pilots. French pilots attached to an R.A.F. squadron, flying their own aircraft, were on patrol with the British fighters in this engagement. This action was followed up by a raid by our bombers on the aerodrome at Addis Ababa, which should do some- thing to counteract the loss of prestige which we suffered when we prudently withdrew our troops from Somaliland. Among the most exciting jobs in this war is that of air gunner in the rear turret of a heavy bomber. One ser- geant, who has recently been decorated with the Dis- tinguished Flying Medal, has broadcast an account of the incident which earned him this coveted decoration. The sergeant said: "It was on the way back from a raid in the Ruhr that these three fighters had a go at us. " There was no anti-aircraft fire, so I was keeping a par- ticularly sharp look out for fighters. Suddenly, tracer bullets started flying past the turret and I saw three fighters coming in at us from the rear. One was coming in from the starboard quarter and below us. The second was above and practically dead astern, and the third was five or six degrees to port, and he—like the one on the other side—was also attacking from below. To me it seemed that all -three were converging on the rear turret. The one on the starboard quarter seemed to be pretty close, so I had first shot at him. The first burst seemed to hit. If you can get your first burst all right, you can usually guarantee to get your following ones in too, un- less things are particularly awkward. So I just kept pumping quick bursts into him—six or seven altogether. He was hitting us too. Some of his shots went through the tailplane, the rudder and the wireless mast, and an ex- plosive shell from his cannon hit the armour plating of my turret I didn't realise at the time that the shell had actually hit us. I thought it had exploded just outside. Anyway, I know the bang deafened me Lr thirty-six hours afterwards. The fighter got to within about one hundred or a hundred and fifty yards of the rear turret; then he pulled up like an aircraft pulling out of a dive. He seemed to hang there for a bit and I got in a few more bursts right into the belly of the machine. I saw him turn over and then I swung the turret on to the second fighter which had been closing in all this time, firing his four guns. I could see fotii streams of tracer coming at us. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the first fighter go down in flames. He exploded in the air, or when he hit the deck—I couldn't say which. This second aircraft was the one which was flying slightly to port. I missed him with the first three bursts, because I was misjudging his speed, but the fourth burst hit him all right, and after that I just kept repeating the performance. He was pretty deadly, too, and did further damage to our 'plane. The navigator got hit in the leg—not badly, though—but no- body else was hurt. Then the fighter curled away out of my field of fire and that was the last I saw oi» him, but the second pilot said he saw him go down out of control. After this the third enemy fighter came down on us. He closed in to about three hundred yards, but wouldn't come any closer. I got a bit fed up with thii' so I fired a good long burst in his direction and he sheered off. We didn't see him again." SPEEDY EXACTITUDE. Setting fuses on a four-inch shellfor A.A. guns. The naval gunners have been very successful with their high-angle fire.
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