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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1943.PDF
SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1944 FLIGHT 3°5 WAR IN THE AIR Bulgaria remains to be seen. Most of the zEgean islands had German garri sons, and, if shipping is available, probably most of those garrisons will try to escape. But even before they reach the mainland they will have to run the gauntlet of the aircraft of the Middle East, which have been, showing increasing activity over the iEgean of late. At noon on Sunday, September 17th, strong forces of the 1st Allied Airborne Army landed in the Rhine delta area of Holland, so striking at the right flank of the whole German defence line in the west. This opera-X tion was the first employment of Lt. Gen. Brereton's recently formed • command, and was the greatest air borne venture ever to have been attempted, and it is good to see that the whole colossal undertaking ap pears to have developed exactly as hoped by those who planned it. Gen. Brereton's two air commanders, Maj. Gen. Williams and Air Vice Marshal Hollinghurst, personally led in their troops and directed the operations. The way was prepared by the Allied Air Forces when, late on Satur day afternoon, Havocs and Marauders Of the U.S. 9th Air Force bombed dykes, possibly to make floods to hinder enemy movement. Later in the evening Lancasters and Mos quitoes attacked airfields at Lee- varden and Steenwijk in Holland, and Salzbergen and Hopsten in Ger many. Following these attacks 100 R.A.F. bombers struck at Dortmund, Brunswick and Moordijk. Immediately before the landings were made, large forces of R.A.F. Second Tactical Air Force machines and heavy bombers of the U.S.A.A.F. attacked enemy gun posi tions over a wide area. The general devastation of these gun positions served the additional purpose of wiping out opposition to the advance of the ground forces' tanks. More than 1,000 aircraft were em ployed in this airborne operation, but what the proportions of tugs and gliders and escort aircraft were has not yet been revealed. Horsas and American C.G.4 gliders were used, • their tugs being Stirlings, Halifaxes and Dakotas, but, in addition to the glider-borne troops, a tremendous force of paratroops .was dropped, mostly from Dakotas, although other aircraft were employed for this pur pose, as indicated by the. report of a navigator who mentions that both bombs and paratroops were dropped from his machine. The landings are reported by the enemy to have been made at Nij- megen, on the Rhine, and only three miles from Germany; at Tilburg, on the Wilhelmina Canal, and the main southern trans-Holland railway; and at Eindhoven, which is but ten miles over the Belgian-Dutch border, and is both a road and main rail junction It appears that the co-ordination ot the air invasion with the operations of the ground forces has successfully struck at one "fell swoop" a very large wedge into the German forces in Holland, and those key production centres of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Duis- burg, Mulheim, and Essen are in far more imminent peril to-day than they were before this fateful week-end. OVER THE RHINE From Our Own Correspondent Who Flew With the First Allied Airborne Army '"TRULY a great operation. All the •*• planning and all the training of thousands of men put into the sky in a matter of an hour or two. From the take-off of solitary pairs of tugs and gliders, to the immense concentration of *air power over the dropping zones— bombers, fighter-bombers, fighters, ttigs, gliders and paratroops—the build-up was an example of perfect timing. We took off on a lovely Sunday 0(U> morning as the autumn morning mist was rising and forming into strato- cumulus clouds. The whole staff of the airfield lined the perimeter track to watch us get away. The padre came along the line of Stirlings with the odd word for the aircrews, and W.A.A.F.s watched with anxious eyes the departure of many of their friends into the unknown hazards of war. As time went on, each pair of Stir lings taxied from their close marshal ling point on the perimeter track on to the runway. Behind each one a tractor pulled up the next Horsa glider in order, and the tow-ropes were attached. At last, after what seemed hours of waiting, it'was our turn next. A signal from the Flying Control officer and the throttles of the four great Hercules of our Stirlings were ogened as we ran down the long run way- The glider at the rear holds the tug back, and we are very near to the end of the runway before we are clear of the ground. Timing is one of the essentials of an operation of this nature, so we went straight on from our airfield to turn over the Bristol Channel and join the stream in our proper order and place. The sky and clouds were a delight to watch, but this beauty was a bug bear to the gliders. Turbulent cur rents, always associated with cumulus clouds, threw the gliders up and down, sometimes getting them into the slip stream of the tugs. The resulting figttt to get back into proper station is frequently the cause of tow-ropes breaking. As we approach Holland a con siderable amount of stratus cloud is met and our stipulated height takes us just in and out of the ragged bottoms. Now events and things crowd in on the mind. Fighters look after us above. Below, for the first part of the journey, all is peaceful. The good Hollanders returning from church stand in little groups in the roads and wave as we go over—so low are we that this can be seen distinctly. Now, stretching for miles, are thousands of acres of good farmland which the Ger mans have flooded. The little red houses are the only things sticking out of the water. What happened to the cattle and livestock one can only guess. Things get hotter. Flak can be seen in several directions. The under-cover of fighter-bombers is on the job. I saw a little flak from an A.A. barge and, almost immediately, a Spitfire was spraying it with cannon shells. In a matter of seconds it was alight. Over the battle area now, with fires in all directions. The D.Z. (dropping zone) comes into sight and the glider pilot is called up on the inter-com. " Hullo No. 2, I will tell you when the glider in front pulls off." Then to the rear gunner—"Get the Aldis lamp ready." (He gives the actual signal when it is time to break away.) "Hullo No. 1," comes the voice of the glider pilot, "Thanks for the tow. Hope you get home safely." " Thank you No. 2. Good luck." A flash of the lamp and '' Glider gone'' comes from the rear, and at the same time nine ugly puffs ot 40 mm. flak appear but a few yards ahead. A slight turn to port and another six puffs appear exactly where we would have been but for the turn. A sharp smack is heard as something hits the Stirling—then "Tow-rope gone'' and with a sharp turn to port back over the Rhine, we head for home. There, down on the ground ; re hundreds of gliders from which thousands of super-trained men have disembarked to play havoc with the German right flank. A quick climb up above the gather ing clouds where we formate with the squadron commander, flying in X for X-ray, and all is peaceful once more as we return with another 50 m.p.n. showing now we have no glider to tow.
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