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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0140.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, 1941. WAR IN THE AIR [Continued) Jan. 5, 6 , 7., 8 9 ., 10 ., II AIR GERMAN Aircraft 1 2 2 i LOSSES TO r- BRITISH Fighter Aircraft 1 1 JANUARY II. , Pilots 1 Captu aerod ITALIAN Aircraft 19 9 10 5 44 ed on •omes 75 117 BRITISH Aircraft 2 1 3 British bombers lost over German territory : Jan. 9, 2 ; Jan. 11, 2. Total 4.German losses by R.A.F. and ground defences, 4,190. British aircraft lost in Northern Europe, I 714. In the Middle East the R.A.F. ha/e destroyed 607Italian aircraft and have lost 79. on the ground. Two of the Sjgs were set on fire and others badly damaged. Two Sygs on the ground at Gazala were also attacked, one of them being severely damaged. The other was seen to be already unserviceable. At Benina, about ioo enemy aircraft on the ground were heavily bombed. Several of them were destroyed and others badly damaged. Seven S79S on the Tmimi landing-ground were seen to be burnt out. A particularly heavy raid was made on Benghazi, during which four or five ships received direct hits and a number of fires were started in warehouses. Tobruk, of course, received continuous attention. Enemy convoys north-west of Jarabub [about 150 miles south of Bardia] were attacked both by our bombers and fighters, and considerable damage was caused. A successful raid was made on military stores and build- ings at Elbasan, in Albania, but flying conditions were extremely bad. Snow, sleet, and rain made observation of the results of the raid difficult, but high-explosive and incendiary bombs were seen to hit several buildings and a number of fires were started. Following a raid by our bombers on Gubba, 25 miles from the Sudan border, Abyssinians attacked the Italian garrison and captured the post. It appears that the rainy season is coming to an end, and it is to be expected that military affairs will liven up in this area. The invasion ports have been receiving a lot of atten- tion, and last week Brest was heavily bombed four times. A novel feature was the adoption by the R.A.F. of daylight raiding with fighter escorts. On Friday, January 10, a force of bombers escorted by over 100 fighters made an extensive sweep over the Pas de Calais. They crossed the coast at mid-day, and attacked enemy aircraft dispersed on the ground in the Foret de Guines, near Calais, starting fires in the woods. High explosives and incen- diary bombs were dropped on a railway station near, and it was left enveloped in a cloud of white smoke. No attempt at interception was made by the enemy, and on the return a section of the fighter escort carried out a low- level machine-gun attack on gun posts and enemy troops in the neighbourhood of Wissant. Smart Fighting A NUMBER of Henschel Army co-operation aircraft seen ^*- on the ground in a corner of Guines la Plage aerodrome were also heavily machine-gunned by the Polish pilot of a Hurricane, who flew across the aerodrome close to the ground to deliver his attack. As he climbed away he sighted two Messerschmitt 109s below him at 200ft. Singling out the nearer, he attacked it at close range, and after three bursts of fire saw it crash into the ground. Avoid- ing intense anti-aircraft fire from the direction of Cap G-ris Nez, he then flew back across the Channel close to the sea and landed safely at his base in spite of a jammed throttle lever, which made it impossible for him to control his engine. Four enemy patrol boats sighted off the French coast were attacked by another returning Hurricane pilot, a D.S.O. and D.F.C. Wing Commander, who came down low and sprayed the ships with machine-gun bullets. In mid-Channel a few minutes later he saw a Spitfire being attacked by a Messerschmitt 109 at about 1,000ft. and engaged it. After firing all his remaining ammunition he saw the Messerschmitt turn away with smoke pouring from it, and it was later seen by two other pilots to crash into the sea. On the night of Saturday, January 11, the Royal Arsenal at Turin was heavily bombed by the R.A.F. In Libya the R.A.F. have found many aerodromes de- serted by the Italian Air Force. Tobruk and other places are under constant bombardment from the air. The Fleet Air Arm have raided Palermo in Sicily and damaged ship- ping in the harbour and warehouses beside the quays. CIVIL AVIATION IN NEW YEAR HONOURS THE New Year Honours List contained the names of twomembers of the staff of British Airways, Captain J. C. Kelly Rogers, O.B.E., and Mr. George Halliday, M.B.E.," now assistant service engineer at the British Airwu\ s overseas head- quarter- ,it I'm lian. Readeis will remember that epic of salvage (see Flight, January ^5. 19-10) when the flying boat Corsair was flown out of the narrow African river Dungu at 1'arajc in the Sudan after being there for ten months. Badly damaged by a sub- merged rock in an emergency landing in March, 1939, she was refloated by the efforts of Mr. HaJliday and his engineers, efforts which ran only I.e described as full of imagination and brilliant improvisation. As well as refloating the boat, it was part of their task to superintend the construction of a dam out of local rock, timber and "antbed," the material of which ant- hills are composed, in order that there might be sufficient water from which the boat could take off. After some months' work a take-off was attempted in July, but another rock ripped the bottom and the boat again sank. British Airways were about to abandon the boat, but it was the determined Mr. Halliday who pleaded for "another go at it." So the whole wearisome business was gone through again and the dam deepened to cover all possible rocks Captain Kelly Rogers was present during the last month of this work, and his presence ensured that the best possible take-off condi- tions were provided. With magnificent judgment he flew the boat oft light from the extremely narrow and curving river, and Cormii was sals-aped in January, TQ.jp. Engine failure in the take-oil would almost certainly have meant a bad crash. Other important work for which Captain Kelly Rogers will be remembered was the British Airways transatlantic flights during the summer and autumn of 1940. These flights started during the height of the invasion crisis and helped very greatly to convince the American people that Britain was not only- strong and confident, but that the German claims of an aerial blockade were false. Both these men have served civil aviation well, one an Irish- man and the other a Scot; one in the pilot's cockpit and the other on the ground, but both ensuring the safety of flight. Scottish marine engineers have long had a reputation for making the engines go round without stopping to talk about it, and George.Halliday is typical of them. Map of the Balkans ONE cannot get a clear idea of what is happening in the waragainst Italy ynless one has a good map handy. George Philip and Son Ltd. Have just published one with coloured contours which extends from Pisa, Pantellaria, and Tripoli in the west to Baghdad in the east, and from Vienna in the north to Cairo in the south. The official reports spring to life when one follows them on this map, and in particular one can realise the great advantage given to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force by the ability to use bases in Greece and on the Greek islands. The scale is 64 miles to an inch. The price of a. paper copy is is. 6d., and for one mounted on cloth 3s. 6d. A more elaborate pattern, varnished and mounted on cloth and rollers, costs 5s.
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