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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0828.PDF
268 APRIL IOTH, T941. WAR IN THE AIR (Continued) The grand collaboration between the Navy and the Air Force in the Middle East was still further exemplified by the part played by the R.A.F. Blenheims in the Battle oi Matapan Blenheim pilots were setting of) on normal raids on military objectives in Tripolitania when they received the sur- prising news that a large part of the Italian Navy was actually at sea. The Squadron Leader who led one oi the attacks said: " The weathei was very hazy over the sea, but we,soon lound the Italian Navy, in two groups, steam- ing like billy-ho tor home. They began to zigzag as soon as they saw us, and their anti-aircralt guns opened up We made a dive attack and fairly plasteied them. Pilots in my squadron registered hits on one big ship, and we think other vessels must have been damaged oi Jelayed by near misses." A sergeant pilot who scored two direct hits with heavy-calibre bombs on a very big ship said: " Though (hey changed formation and zigzagged quite a lot, we .-spent some time taking aim and made a low- level attack. I saw two of my biggest bombs hit the largest ship amidships. Clouds ol black and yellow smoke issued from hei lor a long time, and then she stopped." It is well known to all that to hit a warship travelling at high speed is one of the most difficult bombing leats there is. The sergeant pilot said: " It was a hefty, but agreeable, surprise when 1 saw those bombs hit the ship in just the place aimed .for, right amidships. At first there was a normal white smoke of the bomb bursts, and then columns of black and yellow smoke shot into the air to about 200ft. For fifteen minutes alter we made off, the rear gunner had u good view of the ship and gave us a running commentary. It had stopped and he thought it had started listing before he lost sight of her." Another formation, led by a D.F.C. Flight Lieutenant, discovered an enemy battle- ship, escoited by three cruisers and six destroyers, fleeing for home. The Might Lieutenant said: " The enemy fleet appeared to be in great confusion, zig- zagging violently, and now and again one would get in another's way. We bombed and added to the confusion, but though we saw no hits there were plenty of near misses, and when we left the enemy was busy laying a smoke screen." All R.A.F. aircraft taking part returned undamaged. Other Successes THE Fleet Air Arm scored another-suc-cess, this time in the Red Sea. An R.A.F. reconnaissance aircraft reported FROM INFORMATION RECEIVED : Just as important as hitting the target is Ihe valuable data which the bomber crew orings back trom its raid over enemy territory — information which will almost certainly be of vital importance in the next raid. In this picture, taken in the interrogation room at a Bomber Command station, bomber crews who have just returned from a raid are making their report to Intelligence Officers whose duty is to elicit every possible scrap of information gleaned during the flight. Cups of tea and cigarettes refresh the airmen during the conference. that an Italian destroyer ol the Pantera class, of 1,526 tons, had steamed out from the Eritrean port of Massawa. As that port seemed likely to fall into British hands at any moment (and may be held by our troops by the time these words are published), the Italian Captain evidently thought that he had better go while the going was good. It did not prove to be too good. The destroyer was located, attacked and sunk by naval air- cralt Another good example of co- operation (jet ween the two Hying Services. Asmara and Diredawa are two more- subjects of conversation which must add to tiu- geniality of the meeting of Mr. Matsuoka with Signor Mussolini. Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, surren- dered without resistance after the British forces had captured Keren. The sur- render wns doubtless wise. During the siege of Keren the good people of Asmara had seen something of the enterprise of the R.A.F. and S.A.A.F. in bombing military targets in their vicinity. The Keren garrison, in a bad state of demoralisation, rushed right through Asmara, and then turned off to the south in the direction of Abyssinia without making any effort to protect the port of Massawa. Our aircraft pursued the fugitives and harried them relent- lessly. Closing In THE capture of Diredawa, on the rail-way between Addis Ababa and Djibuti, was another important success, in which our aircraft played a notable part. The capital of Abyssinia was thereby cut ofl from its one route to the sea, and the Allied forces began to close in on it from all sides. When the British troops entered Diredawa they found the Italian residents being attacked by an armed band mostly composed of African deserters from the Italian Army. Evi- dently the Abyssinians have not learnt to love the conquerors who attacked them without any justification and used mustard gas dropped from aircraft to complete the defeat of the Ethiopian troops. Such evil deeds have a way of recoiling on the heads of the criminals who perpetrated them. Turning for a moment from the sunny shores oi the Mediterranean to the grey of the English Channel, information reached the Air Ministry that the two fast and powerful German warships Scharnhorst and Gneiscnau, which had been out in the Atlantic raiding ship- ping, had entered the harbour of Brest. One was in dry dock and the other alongside a quay. The Bomber Com- mand took prompt action. Our aircralt came in from every quarter to criss-cross their objectives with sticks of bombs, among which were some of the most' massive used against such a target. One', of the pilots flew over the docks twelve" times, "waiting to get the flares justr right," as he said, before he dropped his.t bombs. Another made eight runs; 3? third spent 52 minutes on his bombing, and nearly every pilot made more than . one attack This had to be done while all the ground defences at Brest kept up an incessant barrage, to which the pom- pom guns on the ships added their- ' menace. There were several large and persistent fires left burning when our aircraft came away, but, as might be expected in a raid on such a target, observers for the most part reported the flashes of their bomb bursts stabbing through the darkness. No direct hits . on the battle cruisers are claimed, but there is no doubt that their berths were very thoroughly, plastered. However, if the two battle cruisers" survived unharmed such a fierce attack •. (which is by no means a certainty), a large German destroyer was not equally " fortunate. Blenheim bombers were out on reconnaissance one afternoon off the Frisian islands when they sighted a German convoy . escorted by two large destroyers A stick of bombs straddled the one which was bringing up the rear of the convoy, and she slewed round and when last, seen was listing heavily to port with a volume of black smoke pour- ing from her stern. A new type of bomb bis been brought
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