FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1371.PDF
JULY 6TH, 1944 f £ / G HT 9 V his bomb aiming is so good that, to use the words of a commendation, it has made history in the group. For the six months previous to the invasion the Mitchells were engaged on a number of standard targets, such as air torpedo launching bases, marshalling yards and other com munications targets. A short while prior to D-Day they were switched over to night work, and now it is only right to refer to them as day-and-night medium bombers. For night work they take it in turns with other squadrons; one drops the flares while the other drops the bombs. Weather and Work The consistently bad weather, which has been such an outstanding feature since the invasion, has precluded them from putting in an astronomical number of sorties. Yet some of the figures are interesting. In one period of seven hours, including a dusk and dawn attack, the Wing flew 102 sorties. In the first seven days of the invasion some 300 sorties were flown, and well over 800 have been com pleted since D-Day to date. The squadrons have done as many as three shows a day and the crews one sortie 1 day for a seven-day week. The classic raid on the Caen steelworks came as a request from a Division via the air liaison officers attached to the operations room. Apparently troops of the 21st Panzer Division were occu pying it as a series of observation posts and gun positions. It will be remembered that there is drawn on every operations room map a yellow line, This line is known as the bomb line, and our crews have special instructions that no bomb is to be dropped on our side of it without special dispensation from the authority. The Caen steelworks were 1,000 yards inside this line and our forward troops were approximately the same distance away. A hundred tons of explosives went down in lots of 500 lb., and the aiming was so good that only one bomb fell outside the target area. Aircraft from other stations participated, but from this wing five boxes of six Mitchells each took part. The attack was planned for the early evening, and the sky was quite cloudless with a slight grey haze up to a hard line forming the horizon and an unbroken blue sky above this. Despite the haze, however, visibility was quite good. From ten miles out to sea the whole coastline from Le Havre to Cherbourg could be seen, and it was possible, even from this distance, to identify the target. A good formation leader develops a sixth sense which enables him to find a direction, of approach which foxes the defences and yet keeps the natural advantages in the attackers' favour. Some of the things to be considered are the position of the sun, the likely direction of a fighter attack, and the probable or known position of anti-aircmft guns. With regard to fighter attacks, Wing Cdr. Lynn told me that many of his pilots had not seen a German fighter for over a year. For this attack it was decided to go straight from the coast to the target, each box of six Mitchells to turn left after making their bombing run. Turning to the left would avoid flying over Caen where the A.A. defences were known to be concentrated. , As the Mitchells settled down to their straight run-in to bomb the steelworks^^Jhc GeHnans opened up with 20-30 88 mm. A.A. guifsT Their prSiiction*^was good, and it seemed, typj^after time, fhat^jie of the aircraft As must sustain finbimal damage, j the formations _tjfrjed forhjffl their usual KMmsori smopfc(JRej signal to tpe OermAf guaBSrs a lejHUl \assed safely. •rT/lVe Cermans sho. If, Vt$ich lappears Jo j B to wheJe a barrage! ft f The Caen steelworks in flames after the attack. The concentration of the bombing is phenomenal when it is remembered that some 50 aircraft took part.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
