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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1420.PDF
3^ FLIGHT JULY 13TH, 1944 INVASION CLOSE-UP invasion coast were content to keep their heads down and their guns quiet while they were being strafed, those manning the Cherbourg guns gave round for round as long as they could, and .the flashes of the guns still firing could be seen amid the smoke of our exploding shells. The same story that is told at all our fighter stations is retold by the Fleet Air Arm. The Luftwaffe will not fight unless the odds are at least six to one in their favour. A pilot to whom I spoke in the operations room told me he had lost his tail man in t'he clouds and was jumped on by eight Fw 190s. After a while he shook them off and returned to his shoot. Can anyone imagine this happening the other way round ? Some Figures D-Day figures have been a popular means of showing the effort by all arms on that day. Here are some ior this Fleet Air Arm Station. The first patrol was at 04.40 hours and the last finished at 23.10 hours. The patrols went out in waves of about 40 air craft, and 435 sorties were flown in the first 24 hours. They averaged about three shows per pilot. The guns ranged for were very varied in calibre and included 5.25m., 6in., 7.5m., 8in., I2in., 14m., 15m. and i6in. Anyone intimately associated with service flying knows how difficult it is to keep large numbers of high-per formance aircraft operationally ser viceable, and the high serviceability standard kept up during the critical days of the invasion is a credit to the engineering division of the station. On the eve of D-Day over 95 per cent, of the Spitfires were serviceable. During the first three days of the invasion no fewer than 710 hours were flown and 85 per cent, remained service able. All maintenance jobs requiring more than three hours' work were not tackled by the squadron maintenance crews but were handed over to a centralised maintenance organisation. Enthusiasm was such that many of the ground crews worked right through the critical three days, and jobs which normally would take 4J-5 days were com pleted in two days. On D and D plus 1 ten aircraft were seriously damaged ; five required main plane changes, and others had complete engine or engine block changes made. It is only when one knows all the careful planning which was made, and through these glimpses of the devoted work done to carry it out, that the reasons ior the success of the invasion can be realised. Looking at the situation map at H.Q. one thing shows itself very plainly: we are becoming utterly blase con cerning the size of the combined Allied air effort. One day last week the indication arrows showed that over 4^00 sorties had been carried out during the previous 24 hours. Despite bad weather, all the commands had been hard at it both by day and by night. It is doubtful whether the German soldier on the receiving end is as blase about it as we are, but certainly he has' had to learn how to fight, not only without air cover, but also without air support. Everyone who has flown over the invasion area tells the same story of the almost complete absence of any Wren mechanics working on a F.A.A. Spitfire Taking an " easy " between patrols. air opposition. An R.A.A.F. squadron leader, back in Britain, put rather a new aspect on this reluctance to fight. He said that, while the Fw 190 was suitable for climbing quickly and for making diving attacks on our pre-invasiou sweeps, it would not stand up to a pukka air scrap with Spitfire nines. He was terrifically enthu siastic about his beloved Spit. As he pointed out, it is stiil used as the standard by which other aircraft are judged. How frequently one hears of machines which will turn, or dive, or handle, or climb, or do something else "just like a Spitfire." This Australian squadron leader was also unbounded in his admiration for the planning and organisation of the whole show. He had a front seat to watch the approach oi the invasion fleet as he was on convoy patrol on the early morning of D-Day. In the Isigny area there were some heavy coastal guns sited in 6 to 8 ft. thick ferro concrete emplacements. Just as the invasion armada came within the guns' range a force from Bomber Command arrived dead on time overhead and, with the utmost precision, completely wiped out the battery. The naval vessels were then able to move unmolested close inshore to give cover ing fire to our troops. After his squadron had moved to France—on D + 6— he went over to the batteries to see the eflect from the ground. He found it so completely smashed that approach could be made only on foot. I remember the village oi
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