FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1327.PDF
JUNE 25TH, 1942 FLIGHT War in The Air The Convoy Battles : A Set-back in Libya : Rumanian Oilfields Bombed : A Flight Over Paris GETTING convoys through the Mediterranean is now a very ticklish business, but Malta ^ibya had to be kept supplied, fa does not grow enough food to her small population, now swollen by a wartime garrison, and that garri son expends an appalling number of shells and uses up very large quantities of fuel and aircraft ammunition. She must never be allowed to run short, and the ships which bring her supplies have to come through the Straits of Gibraltar and the Sicilian Narrows, past the troublesome little island of Pantellaria. There is no chance of their escaping the notice of the Axis reconnaissance ?ircraft, and so the escort has to fight its way through in the teeth of attacks from sea and air. Tobruk was expected to stand another seige, and so supplies were sent from Alexandria. In the second week in June two con voys steamed out simultaneously for the two places, and both were heavily attacked by the Italian Navy and by Axis aircraft. The Italians sent out a force which included two battle ships and at least one heavy 10,000- ton eight-inch-gun cruiser of the Trento class, to the south of Taranto. Apparently this force was hoping to destroy the very large convoy bound for Tobruk. The Italian fleet was sighted on the evening of June 14th by one of our reconnaissance aircraft, and was promptly attacked by long- range torpedo machines, but the results were not observed. Next day our torpedo aircraft from Malta and Africa set out to deal with the Italian ships, and Liberator bombers, mostly flown by American crews, joined in. A combination of high-level bombing and low-level torpedo attacks is the most effectual way in which aircraft can deal with warships. One of the Italian cruisers of the Trento class was set on fire by bombs and was sunk by air torpedoes. A smaller cruiser and a destroyer were also hit. The Italian fleet then turned away, and left the attack on the convoy to the Axis air forces. They used every sort of dodge at their disposal, of course including dive-bombing. Apparently only one merchant ship was sunk by the air attacks, and most of the crew were picked up by another ship. The con voy got through to Tobruk, and the Italian Navy now has only one heavy cruiser left. The American War De partment has stated that the Italian battleships Littorio and Cavour were hit by U.S. aircraft.' The British claim was that two battleships had been set on fire by R.A.F. torpedo aircraft and U.S. bombers. Both these ships had been torpedoed at Taranto in 1940. The Malta Convoy /^VN the same morning, June 15th, ^-^ the second Italian naval force was found near Pantellaria, evidently hop ing to gobble up the convoy from Gib raltar. There naval aircraft and R.A.F. machines combined to attack it, and the British escort included some heavy units. One Italian cruiser DEFEATING THE U-BOAT (1) : A sequence of four photographs of a German submarine being destroyed by a Whitley in the Bay of Biscay. In the two upper pictures, the tailwheel of the Whitley is visible. DEFEATING THE U-BOAT (2) : Aircrews which have been trained in Canada and flown to this country in aircraft being delivered from America.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
