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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1890.PDF
102 FLIGHT AUGUST 2IST, 1941. WAR IN THE AIR But here it is a pleasure to recordgood work by the Red Air Fleet in destroying a bridge over the DanubeIn Rumania, 30 miles above the port of Constanza. The Soviet authoritiesgave the following account of the results of this piece of work. It isperhaps the most detailed and there- lore the most useful statement issuedby the Russians since the invasion of their country began. As a result ofthe destruction of this bridge, says the Rnssian statement, all militarytransport between Bucharest and Con- stanza has been stopped. The rightbank of the Danube and the Black Sea coast are now isolated from theother parts of the country, and likely to lemain so foi some time. The oilstores at Constanza cannot be re- plenished because the old pipeline,which was laid along the bridge, was also destroyed. The Russian attackwas carried out by bombers which in several wave:: approached the bridgeat a great height. The anti-aircraft guns on the bridge blazed but theywere silenced. Heavy bombs scored direct hits on the bridge, the 100ft.long span of which, completely de- stroyed, crashed into the river. Syracuse Harbour TT is also stated that the oil wells•*• Plpesti in Rumania were burning three weeks after they were set alightby the Red bombers. Hitting the actual wells so as to set them on fireimplies very accurate bomb-aiming. In the Middle East Swordfish of theFleet Air Arm flew into Syracuse harbour one night and launched tor-pedoes against a supply ship there. It is believed that two of the "tin-fish" scored hits. Something has *%. STAND FROM UNDER : The bomb-aimer of a Blenheim Mk. IV drops everything. DANGEROUS CORNER : How a rearturret of a Whitley looked after a scrap with an Me no over Germany. been attracting particular attentionto Syracuse harbour of late, for the R.A.F. has also paid some visitsthere. Presumably the R.A.F. bombs did not do all that was hoped, so thetorpedoes of the Fleet Air Arm were called in and proved more effective.Enemy harbours in the Mediterranean must lead a somewhat anxious exist-ence, especially since the Fleet bombarded Genoa. Presumably theenemy tries different harbours in turn, hoping to escape attention, andSyracuse has been one of the recent selections. Cyprus comes in for an occasionalraid. Last week a number of bombs were dropped by enemy aircraft in theneighbourhood of Nicosia and Fama- gurvra, but no damage was done andnobody was hurt. If Syria were not now safely ir> Allied hands the posi-tion of .Cyprus would be far more dangerous. The Far East *~PHE Japanese Air Force bombed•*• Chungking, the seat of Chiang Kai Shek's Government, for four days andnights continuously, and then after a short pause began again. The damagedone was great, and there must have been large numbers killed andwounded. The Japanese are also using their bases in Indo-China tobomb towns in the Chinese province of Yunnan. Thailand in Japanesehands would be a serious menace to Allied possessions, and the Burmaread would become an easier target. Hitherto their bombers have failed toclose that road. The gunners on a number of oursmall ships are developing into fine marksmen. It will be rememberedthat before the war the Navy held classes to train officers and men ofthe Merchant Navy in meeting ai? attack as well as submarine attack bygunfire. This was doubtless very useful, and since the war broke outmany of the gunners have had to use their weapons in defence of theirvessels. Among' many incidents of the sort; a success by a coaster wasthus described by the captain when he reached port. He said: "When theaircraft was just on us I opened fire with our Lewis gun. We fired about50 shots and I could hear them ping- ing on the sides of the machine.Soon the aeroplane caught fire, and the machine dropped to about 20ft.off the water, rose a little, and dropped to 10ft., then rose again anddropped to 5ft. After that I lost sight of him. Three Spitfires went out afterhim. They circled round and then back as if they had finished with theenemy. I heard next day that the German had been seen in the water." Resource "DUT if merchantmen often defeatJJ enemy aircraft, British airmen at times g»t the better of much more for-midable surface craft. One day not long ago a Hurricane was on patrolnear Malta when the pilot saw an E-boat approaching the island. Hewent down low and attacked it, but the E-boat's guns damaged theHurricane. The pilot got in a burst which wiped out the gun crew. Othersof the crew ran to take their places, but the pilot, although his aircraftwas almost uncontrollable, swept them with bullets as well. His machinethen pancaked on to the sea, and the pilot climbed out. He swam a shortdistance to the E-boat, and hauled himself aboard. All the members ofthe E-boat's crew were either dead or wounded, so the pilot took possessionand eventually brought his capture into Malta Harbour. The number of Polish squadrons inthe R.A.F. is on the increase. Thres Polish fighter squadrons are now ableto work as a Wing, although none of the three had reached the stage ofbeing operational before this year. To become operational means that asquadron has been trained up to the point where it is considered competentto engage the enemy, either with machine gun or with bomb, accordingto whether it is a fighter or bomber
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