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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1832.PDF
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 1942 THE PRIME MINISTER'S CREW : The Ferry Command crew of the Liberator I which took Mr. Churchill on his trip to Russia and the Middle East. (Left to right) Capt. W. J. Van der Kloot, O.B.E., Sqn. Ldr. L. Kimber, D.F.C., 2nd P R. Rundels, and Fit. Engineer R. Williams. Vf This time aircraft of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps went out to meet them, set one cruiser and a transport fiercely ablaze, damaged another destroyer, and hit other ships. It will be noted that the Americans make no claims which cannot be verified. Some of the other ships may have been sunk, but the American pilots did not see them sink, and so no suggestion of that sort was made. But in another engagement, this time by Allied air craft based in Australia, an enemy gunboat was undoubtedly sunk by a direct hit by a bomb. There have also been raids by Gen. MacArthur's bombers on various airfields occupied by the Japanese in New Guinea and neighbouring islands, and "more than a few enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The Japanese have, nevertheless, succeeded in making a new landing on New Guinea, this time at Milne Bay, in the extreme south-east of the island. This brings them dangerously close to the shores of Australia, and it may be that this landing is a result of the enemy's failure so far to gain posses sion of Port Moresby. The extraor dinary thing about the landing is that the convoy must have travelled quite • 500 miles through New Guinea waters without any air protection. A pos sible explanation of this daring under taking is that Japan may not have been able to spare a carrier to accom pany the convoy. Precise knowledge of Japanese building is not possible, but an experienced naval writer has calculated that their Navy started the . war with nine or ten carriers and that five of these have been lost, the losses amounting to about 60 per cent, of the total carrier tonnage. Bad weather and monsoon storms to some extent took the place of air protection, and when the Allied bom bers attacked the convoy the cloud banks came down to 1,000 feet. It is certain that the air crews would come under very heavy A.A. fire when they attacked from such a low altitude, i The heavy bombers claimed to have * sunk one transport, probably sunk a cruiser, and damaged a destroyer, los ing one machine themselves. That is what the late Major Mannock, V.C., used to call "good arithmetic." As the enemy landed, medium bombers and fighters took up the story and sank six landing barges, besides shoot ing up large numbers of enemy troop? on the beaches. In spite of all this the enemy force succeeded in making its landing. The Allies, who had fore seen this move, had land forces ready to engage the enemy. To and Fro in Russia ALL the world has been anxiously •**- watching the great fight for Stalingrad. The Germans claim that the Luftwaffe started large fires in that important city, and that was what we should all expect. Reports say that in the south the Russians are badly outnumbered in the air, as well as on c I
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