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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1328.PDF
°32 FLIGHT WAR IN THE AIR was hit and set on fire, and it is be lieved that a destroyer was also hit. The fighting was not all in the air, for our ships did some damage, too. That convoy got through to Malta. The fighting lasted for four days altogether, and there were numerous THE END OF AN ME no : Cine pic tures taken by a camera synchronised to operate with a fighter's guns. From the top downwards : The Me tries to get away by going flat out. Tracer bullets a little high. A hit on the port engine. Further hits on the port engine and it bursts into flames. tough battles in the air. On one occasion our fighters intercepted a large force of 40 dive- bombers (Ju 87 and 88) and forced them to jet tison their bombs, far away from our ships. Considerable numbers of enemy aircraft were destroyed during these operations, though the precise tally could not be calculated at once. It has been ad mitted that there were shipping losses on our side, but the enemy has not been told what they were, and accordingly the British public has also been left in the dark. Some few days ago a sensation was caused by the forced landing of four Liberators with American crews in Turkey, because of their having run out of petrol. The story of their adven tures has now been released. On June nth fifteen of these bombers set out from Egypt and arrived over Rumania before dawn next day. The Germans and Rumanians were taken by surprise, and the opposition put up was negligible. When it grew light the Liberators took deliberate aim and bombed targets in the oilfield at Ploesti. Then they started back, but German fighters found them over the Black Sea and shot one down. Ten arrived back in Allied territory, though not unscathed. Four ran short of fuel and had to land in Turkey. One had been shot about and three of its crew were slightly wounded. The Turks are treating the 28 Ameriran airmen very hospitably, though they have to intern them. The damage done at Ploesti is said to have been most satisfactory, and the moral effect of the raid was considerable. A Jeu d'Esprit A LITTLE bravado often cheers up •** spirits in time of war, and the " V'-loving people of Paris must have been immensely brightened when on one day last week Fit. Lt. A. K. Gatward and Sergt. Fern flew a Coastal Beau- fighter low ever the roof-tops of Paris in broad daylight, and dropped Tri colour flags on the Arc de Triomph and the former Ministry of Marine, now used as the German headquarters in Paris. They made two circuits, and the first time they attracted little attention, but when they went round again the Parisians tumbled to what was talcing place. So did the Ger mans, and some of their officers were seen dodging about in the search for REFUELLING THE CREW: Taking provisions aboard a Short Sunderland in the Mediterranean. cover. But the only shots which the British airmen dared to fire were shells from their four cannons into the Ger man headquarters building. It is to be hoped that they at the very least upset some nice, tidy, important files. Photographs have been taken of Emden since the heavy R.A.F. raid on the place on June 6th, and these show that the damage was very exten sive. In fact, it was the heaviest raid which that town has yet had to en dure. In particular the damage ought to hamper the production of U-boats, and to interfere with that is one of the most valuable contributions which Bomber Command can now make towards the winning of the war. It has been estimated lately that U-boats have been turned out at a faster~rate than the Allied Navies and Air F(j have been able to sink them, and' anything which scotches the wasps in their nests is of the utmost value. Air activity in the South West Pacific has been growing more intense than ever of late, and the Japanese have made a succession of air raids on Darwin and Port Moresby. The Australians and Americans have been keeping up their regular air bombard ments of Rabaul, Lae and Salamaua One must suppose that the increased energy of the Japanese is a spiteful desire to avenge their naval defeats. The battles of the Coral Sea and Midway Island have seriously reduced the naval power of Japan, and have at the least postponed the day when they can invade Australia. Air bom bardment cannot take the place oi an invasion, when the object must be to seize the Australian harbours, and especially Sydney, so as to deny the
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