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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2160.PDF
FLIGHT, September 18, 1941. d NICE WORK! Being an Air Gunner's Impressions of a Raid THE bombers are loaded andready to go. The grass showssilver behind them, blown fiat by the hurrying slipstream. The air-craft roars over the ground, takes off and circles the station. It is still day-light and will be for a while. Fields, grey, green and yellow, shine in warmsunshine. A river, the town where we go to amuse ourselves on evenings ofno operations. Another bomber or two drift along in our wake andabeam. The coast with its white line of surf, our silhouette crossing thesand. The aircraft is rising over the sea.•White vapour drifts round us. We are suddenly flying blind in the chill, pressing heart of a cloud. Then, a white,fleecy blanket and the clear sky above us once more. It is not quite dark; there is still a long yellow belt of light.We know we show black against this and good watch must be kept for the foe flying in from the east. The cloud bank ends. Two or three tiny lights areflashing below. They are ships and we keep on our way. It is too dark for identification, and small ships sometimescarry big guns. The Target Now we see what we have been expecting. Ahead, long,straight fingers of light are feeling about in the sky. For some time we drive on through quiet darkness; then abright light shoots past us ahead. " What's that? " " One of their fighters. He's missed us."Now, a little to port, a great glow lights up the sky. There seem to be an infinite number of searchlights, andamong them are flickers and flashes with bright lights slowly descending. "Oh, boy, there's the target," the young "SecondDickie " sighs gently, "and aren't they busy to-night! " Straight for that welter we steer. A cold blue beam from a malevolent eye reaches up and lays hold on our aircraft.Another, then three more. We twist and turn. There are sudden flashes; the guns are blazing. Slow, lazy strings ofred balls swing up and pass by ^us to starboard. A bang, flame, puffs of black smoke hanging dense in the search-lights' white glow. "Heavy stuff, that! " somebody mutters.Flares float to earth all round us, joined by our own. We are making our "bomb run" now, flying in towardsa fire that flares in a deep semicircle. Light flak comes unpleasantly close. The target shows plainly below: ariver leads to it ; a park, huge buildings, tall chimneys, smoke belching. Something suddenly happens downthere. Five flashes, a cloud, a great red mounting explosion. _ " Nice work ! " shouts someone, and we turn away, head-ing for home. Daylight reveals a hole or two in our port wing, and the wireless reports: '' Last night heavy damagewas done by aircraft of Bomber Command to a munitions works in West Germany." (Top) Captain and Second Pilot of a bomber using oxygenmasks during a high-altitude attack. (Bottom left) The bomb-aimer depresses the selector switches as the target isapproached. (Bottom right) Suitable provision for a little personal refuelling during a long trip over enemy territoryis not overlooked.
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