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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0761.PDF
MARCH 25-ra, 1943 FLIGHT 303 WAR IN THE AIR ENEMY AIR LOSSES to MARCH Over G.B.Mar. 14 ., 15 , 16 ., 17„ 18 , 19 .. 20 Totals: 2 4 0 0 4 0 0 10 West, 6,725 North Over 20th Continent Middle East2 0 0 0 2 00 4 ; Middle East, over Africa, 832. 0 1 5 3 3 0 4 16 5,265 ; , - rons during the partial thaw, but the feat seems to have been accomplished before it was too late. Up on the central and northern fronts, where the Russians are still advancing man- fully, news of air activity has con- tinued of late to be very scanty, but probably more has happened in the air than has got into the communiques. Here and There A RECENT'daylight raid by Mos- •£*• quitoes on the railway repair works at Paderborn, in Germany, was a notable performance. These works are busy repairing locomotives and wagons, of which Germany is now perilously short. Paderborn may be too far away to deal with the numerous engines which are daily get- ting holes through their boilers and other damage from the cannons of the Mustangs and Fighter Command air- craft in Northern France, but in all parts under German control there has been tremendous wear and tear on roll- ing stock in the last two years or more, and so. repair shops are a very valuable part of the enemy's war effort. Apart from the importance of the target, the remarkable thing about the raid was that the Mosquitoes made a return flight of some 800 miles, of which 500 was over hostile country. They spent from two-and-a-half to three hours over that territory, and only lost one machine. What a contrast to the sneak raids in which the Germans are now indulging almost every day, in GUNGA DIN, 1943 : E.C.D. purifier units at work at a water source in NorthAfrica. A supply of drinking water is one of the most important necessities of an air force in the field. which their average time spent over British soil is about three minutes! They make no attempt to damage re- pair shops, but wreck women's hostels and girls' schools. And, they often lose machines. Another profitable raid was made some days later by Whirlwind twin- engined fighter-bombers. An article on a Whirlwind squadron was pub- lished in Flight of March nth. This raid was made by night, and the moon has been a help on recent raids. The target was the 300ft. high viaduct at Morlaix, which lies on the main rail- way line to the Atlantic U-boat bases. It is not claimed that the viaduct was destroyed, but several hits were made, and repair work on such a structure cannot be an easy or sapid matter. It is to be hoped that this has caused a further hitch in the U-boat war against Allied shipping across the Atlantic. The raid was repeated on the follow- ing night, again by Whirlwinds, and the results were similar. On the other side of the picture, the Japanese made another raid on Darwin on March 15th. It is some considerable time since their aircraft are reported to have visited Australia. They took precautions, sending 25 medium bombers with an escort of 24 fighters. Then, for the first time, we believe, they met the Spitfires. Twelve Japanese Zero fighters . and two bombers paid the penalty for their temerity, and were shot down, while others were damaged. Four Spitfires were lost, but their pilots are safe, presumably having come down by parachute. The bombs caused few casualties and only slight damage. Montgomery Moves T3Y the time these words are in the •*-' hands of our readers much may have happened. But the preliminaries were dramatic. The Germans, evi- dently in a nervous frame of mind, stated that the big battle had begun, and then they reported that a force of 50 tanks and 2,000 vehicles had started moving from the area of Ksar Ghilane towards the coast. Ksar Ghilane marks the western end of the Mareth line, and there have been indi- cations that the Eighth Army was probing thereabouts. Next, while the official communiques spoke only of patrol activity and air action, the Prime Minister told the world that he had heard from Gen. Montgomery that the Eighth Army was on the move. The battle opened with a terrific air bombardment from all directions on the Mareth positions and on those opposite Gen. Alexander's forces. It was the regulation bursting of the storm. The motto for opening a modern battle might be : " Shell what you can and bomb what vou can't." LA PREMIERE LEQON : An open-air lesson in French to help the Royal Air Force men in their dealings with the local population in Tunisia. BRITISH & U.S Mar. 14 „ 15 ., 16 ,, 17 „ 18 .. 19 „ 20 Totals : OverG.B. A'crft.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . AIR LOSSES to Over Continent B'brs. F'trs.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 West, 5,417; 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Middle East, MARCH 20th MiddleEast A'crft.0 0, 0 0 0 0 0 0 about 2,086 ; North Africa, 347 (4 pilots safe).
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