FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2280.PDF
2IO FLIGHT OCTOBER 2ND, 1941. WAR IN THE AIR in occupied France has issued an orderthat any man helping British airmen who descend by parachute or areforced to land will be shot without trial, while women will be sent to aconcentration camp in Germany. Our men certainly show a great distaste forlanding in France, and when their machines are damaged make for theChannel and try their utmost to coax the aircraft home, preferring to riskhaving to come down in the water. There have been some sensationalrescues. Two fighter pilots picked up safefrom the sea owe their lives to the keen sight and enterprise of a Cana-dian sergeant. The sergeant was one of an escort of fighter pilots whichwent out with a rescue service aircraft •to look for a pilot reported down inthe Channel. Fifteen miles from the English coast .he saw a patch of oil, inthe middle cf which was a pilot float- ing in his "Mae West." The Cana-dian signalled to the rescue aircraft, which dropped a rubber boat. Thepilot swam to it and climbed in. The Canadian sergeant left theothers to watch over the man in the water and set off to guide rescue boats AFTfc.k iHfc. bhuw. Inis group of Australian fighter pilots have just returnedfrom one of the biggest daylight operations over enemy-occupied territory since war began. The squadron's bag was six " certain " and two " probables." to the spot. Whl!3 doing this he sawa second pilot in the water, floating in his one-man dinghy. He guided therescue boats to this man. They picked him up and then, thinking their workwas finished, turned and sped for Eng- land. The Canadian tried to makethem turn back. He flew low over them, he waggled his wings and he lethis undercarriage down. But still he was not understood. Finally, indesperation, he fired a burst from his gun into the water in front of themotor boats. That did the trick. The boats turned, and the sergeant guidedthem to the pilot still awaiting rescue. The Battle of the Mediterranean TN the Mediterranean the great•*• struggle goes on between the enemy's attempts to reinforce Libya and ourattempts to stop the process. In its way this is aot unlike the Battle ofthe Atlantic, with the roles of the two contestants reversed. One differenceis that in such narrow waters we can- not use surface raiders to any extent,but must rely on submarines and attacks from the air. Torpedoes,either from submarines or from naval T.S.R. machines, are most effectivewhile the convoys are in transit, while bombs have to be used when theyreach port. R.A.F. bombers also have shots at the moving convoys on occa-sions, and they, too, do damage. In one of these bomber raids one largeschooner received several direct hits. A LIVE " STICK.' A large forceof British paratroops are now ready for action. Here are some of our" tough guy " volunteers making a practice descent. and the crew immediately abandonedthe ship, which was left a mass of flames. Another schooner, after beinghit, blew up with such terrific force that one of our aircraft making theattack was destroyed by the blast. The harbour works at Benghazi,Bardia, and Tripoli must be in a some- what sorry condition by now, and \ 111give our engineers a good deal of trouble to put into good working orderwhen we reoccupy the places. One can almost find it in one's heart tosympathise with the feelings of an Italian soldier (it is harder to feel pityfor Germans) who is ordered to embark from a Sicilian port for Tripoli. Theycannot be exactly exuberant. A vivid account of a raid "on Tripolihas been given by a Wing Com- mander who led a dawn attack onenemy shipping in Tripoli Har- bour and returned again at duskthe same day and carried out a daring attack on an enemy warvessel. Both attacks were made from a few feet high. The morning attackwas pressed home through a hail of flah from all angles, but direct hitswere made on a liner of more than 20,000 tons, and an 8,000 ton supplyship. The Wing Commander, de- scribing his second raid, said: "Wef^w along the Tripoli coast just after the sun had set Twilight had nearl/gone. We saw about a couple of miles off the mole two warships—one eithera small cruiser or a large destroyer, and another a destroyer—silhouettedagainst tiie sky. The larger vessel was playing searchlights on the water onthe far side from us as we approached. We flew towards her at less than adozen feet. We let go our bombs from
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
