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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1245.PDF
MAY 13TH, 1943 FLIGHT 505- A FIGHTER MOSQUITO SQUADRON lias to do. He admitted that when his machine got into a scrap he felt his fingers* itching to fire the guns, but I hold that a man who has won the D.F.M. as a gunner ;lnd then qualified as a navigator has a record as credit-able as anyone could possibly desire. This squadron put up a tremendous show in its Defiants, and in one day it shot down 37 enemy aircraft in two patrols, without loss to itself. By now its total of con- firmed victories is 92, and it hopes to notch its cental/ before long. The long-range work of the Mosquitoes naturally pro- vides fewer targets than the Defiants were able to find, but the squadron has bagged a few over the Bay of Biscay, and who knows but that those,victories set free some Sun- derland or Liberator to bomb a U-boat, and so, perhaps, saved a valuable cargo ship. In the last three or four months this squadron has carried out 55 patrols over the Bay, and in addition has made about 60 intrusions by day and night over territory occupied by the enemy. On night intrusions the squadron has destroyed 15 enemy aircraft. During these forays it has also shot up and damaged 43 locomotives, two ships, ten power stations, and various other targets of less importance. The Germans have not yet devised a Mosquito-net! I asked one pilot if, when attacking a train, he gave the engine-driver and fireman time to escape, as they might be Frenchmen. He said he did the first time, but it also gave the German flak crews time to man'their guns, and when he came round again he was fired at. But he said that the drivers usually stop the trains very quickly, and probably manage to get off in time. Of the Mosquito itself and its Merlin engine much hits been written already in Flight, so no further description need be given here. It is of interest, however, to know that the squadron is devoted to the machine and is loud in praise of it. It is sweet to fly, say the pilots, and very strong. The wooden construction stands up well, even to a belly landing with wheels retracted. I asked about the effect of bullets on the wood and was told that it showed no tendency to splinter. The results of strikes by enemy fire are much the same as on a machine of metal construction. As for the power of the engines, I was shown one Mosquito in which the CO. of the squadron had flown home 400 miles on one engine with the other out of action. No one could ask much more than that from any twin-engined aircraft. ENTOMOLOGISTS : The de Havilland team of "back room boys" responsible for the Mosquito. (Left to right) : R. E. Bishop (Chief Designer) : F. W. Plumb (Superintendent of the Experimental Shop) ; W. A. Tamblin ; P. F. Bryan (Chief Draughtsman) ; R. M. Clarkson (Assistant Chief Engineer) ; D. King ; J. K. Crowe ; G. W. Drury ; C. T. Wilkins (Assistant Chief Designer) ; R. Hutchinson ; C. F. Wills ; Rex King ; R. H. Harper (Chief of Stress Office) ; D. R. Newman ; F. T. Watts ; R. M. Hare ; M. Herrod-Hempsall ; F. J. Hamilton ; J. P. Smith ; E. H. King ; R. J. Nixon ; A. G. Peters ; G. C. I. Gardiner. Messrs. A. W. Fawcett, J. E. Walker and C. C. Jackson were absent. NEW FAST ATLANTIC < KOSSIX. TT was announced recently that a number of fast flights had-*• been made between Canada and Britain by aircraft of the Royal Air Force Transport Command Favoured by exceptionally good conditions, Capt. C. K.("Sam") Buxton, of British Overseas Airways Corporation, on the Atlantic return ferry service which is operated to therequirements of the R.A.F. Transport Command, has now improved on the previous best flying performances. In a fully laden Liberator bomber from Newfoundland toBritain (2,200 statute miles) his take-off to landing time is reported to have been 7 hours iG minutes—24 minutes less thanthe best similar flight of the kind by Captain W. S. May an- nounced a few days ago, and 45 minutes less than what hadstood until then for 14 months as the fastest Atlantic crossing. His coast-to-coast time was 6 hours 12 minutes, eight minutesless than the flight of Captain May. Captain Buxton's voyage to Britain began at Montreal(3,150 statute miles). He flew in 3 hours 56 minutes to New- foundland (950 miles), where he made a brief halt to set downpassengers. His total actual flying time from Montreal to Britain was, therefore, 11 hours 12 minutes—1 hour 9 minutesbetter than the previous best elapsed-time flight via Newfound- land, and 38 minutes better than one, via Nova Scotia, bothaccomplished in the previous two weeks by Captain S. \V. A. Scott. Captain Buxton's average "ground speed" over tin*ocean was over 300 m.p.h., and he flew mostly at an altitu-It- of 21,000 feet in an average air tempeiatuie of 4J degrees oifrost. Captain Buxton is 37 and joined Imperial Airways in uj-;;S.Most of his peacetime flying was on Imperial Airways European routes and on the Britain to India service. He has beenserving with the Atlantic air ferry for 27 mouths.
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