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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0243.PDF
JANUARY 28TH, 1943 FLIGHT ail Run How Handley Page Halifaxes Reduced theAxis Ports in Libya Before and During the Qreat Westward Advance 3 After briefing, the crews forgather and the navigators work out their courses. 4 Night scene in the desert. A Halifax ready to •ake off along the flare path. 7 Standing by the Chancelight the signaller gives a waiting Halifax the O.K. for take- off. LAST night allied bombers attackedTobruk and Benghazi. Largefires and explosions were observed among dock installations and on quays." Until the recapture of these towns by the Eighth Army this announcement was made so regularly that it passed almost unnoticed. Behind these words lay one of the most persistent, powerful and vital air offensives against the Axis' lines of supply*in the Middle East. It was carried out by Halifax bombers. Every night, week in and week out, hundreds of men flew through the darkness over a dis- tance of 1,100 miles to drop hundreds of tons of bombs. The men who flew on these raids called them the '' Night Mail Run." "The " Mail Run " whittled away shipping, dock machinery, stores and dislocated the organisation of enemy- occupied ports. They hit him hard behind the lines and confused his supply.
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