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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1684.PDF
FLIGHT JULY IST, 1943 up methodically must sooner or later produce an effect on the fighting power of the German forces. Surprising the Axis THE raid on Friedrichshafen men-"*• tioned above turned out a surprise for the Axis as well as for the publicat home. The name of the place re- calls to many of us some poignantemotions of the last great war. It was then the home and nest of the once-dreaded Zeppelins. The damage which they did in Britain seems paltrynow, after recent experience of blitzing by the Luftwaffe, but in 1914-15 theirraids seemed things of dread. For centuries before the Englishman'shorns had been his castle, and, thanks to the watch and ward of the RoyalNavy, no foreign foe had ever been able to interfere with it. It came as ashock to realise that homes might be wrecked and citizens killed despite theguard of the " inviolable sea." So the name of Friedrichshafen was accursedof Britons, and once the Royal Naval Air Service actually sentthree Avro 504s to bomb the sheds! Zeppelins are no longer builtin the sheds on the shore of Lake Constance, but thosesheds are still used as a war factory. So Bomber Commandsent a force of ,heavy bombers to upset the proceedings, andthey devastated at least three acres and put a stop to theactivities of the Maybach engine works. The attackcame as a surprise, and the defence was not effective.None of the British bombers was brought down. An un-fortunate tragedy connected with the attack was that somrof the shells, or shell fragments, from the German A.A. gunscame to earth on the Swiss side of the frontier and killed a fewSwiss people. The British were not to blame for that, butnone the less we all regret the tragedies, as the Swiss havealways been our very good friends-; After the raid the Britishbombers vanished from Ger- man ken, and the observerposts and A.A. gunners all over the tracts to the north musthave been excessively puzzled to account for their dis-appearance. What they did was to turn south instead ofnorth, and fly on to Africa, where they landed. It is ratherover 500 miles from England to Friedrichshafen, and forthat distance the raiders were carrying their bombs. Therest of the flight was made light, but it must have coveredover 750 more miles. The crews spent three daysin Africa, and doubtless re- joiced in the plentiful supplies WAR IN THE AIR of fruit and eggs there. After the unusual coolness of early June in England this year, the extra sun and warmth of Africa was probably also not unwelcome. In the meantime the bombers were serviced and loaded up with new bombs. Then they set off for home again, and on the way made another raid on the Italian naval base at Spezia, not far-from Genoa. Again a surprise seems to have been brought off, and more damage was done to the base. It is to be hoped that Italian warships in the harbour may have - Altogether, this was a surprisingadventure. It was economical in wear and tear of airframes and engines, aswell as in fatigue of crews. It struck hard and unexpected blows at twoimportant Axis centres. Above all, it showed the versatility and resource-fulness of the staff of Bomber Com- mand, of which several examples havebeen given before. There is nothing cut-and-dried about its methods. Itmay for a while induce the enemy to think that it has adopted a regularroutine, and then it does something quite out of the ordinary and takeshim by surprise. He must always be trying to guess what the next surprisewill be. Accolade in the Desertbeen hit, while other shipping was most probably damaged. Having once ~H"IS MAJESTY THE KING has "• -^- V*£»An Ka^jinor a ij&rir KIICTT +irrt*^. JTImore got rid of their Heavy bombload, the machines then crossed the Alps and flew back home, landing onairfields in Northern England. Not one of the bombers failed to return. OVER THE SHARP^END : A sequencea Grumman Wildcat overshoots on the deck of U^s.S. Altfmxahaworth " aii been having very busy time inthe Mediterranean. His visit to Malta gave great pleasure to everyone.Apart from the actual defenders of the island, the whole Empire has beenfilled with intense admiration •i for the spirit of the braveMaltese, and the honour and pleasure of having the King intheir midst must have been no small compensation for all thesufferings which they have so stoutly endured. The Eighth Army also welldeserved a special visit from the King—the Fountain ofHonour, as constitutional his- tories call the wearer of theBritish Crown. One pictures the forces which fought in thedesert as having reached the climax of informality, to be thegreatest contrast imaginable to the Guards when they troopthe Colours on a King's Birth- day parade in London intimes of peace. Yet even in the desert the King's visit wasaccompanied by some of the picturesque ceremonial whichis connected in most minds with feudal times. On aparade in the desert Air Mar- shal F. J. Linnell, DeputyA.O.C.-in-C, the Middle East, knelt before the King, re-ceived the accolade (it must have been not too easy to finda sword in the desert), and rose up as Sir Francis. Darwin Air Battle T^HE Japanese recently made•*• another attempt at a large-scale raid on Darwin,sending over 28 bombers and an escort of 20 fighters. Evi-dently the number of Spitfires Australia JISHS been increasedin which a lot chafed their opponentsfar out ftovsea mat they had :ot erfou&iiuel left to get back: This time the ers were met by a>rce of Spitfires roughly equal fRi own strength, and the
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