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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0748.PDF
4i6 Second T.A.F. Mitchells ontheir way to bomb Nieukerk road and rail junction. APRIL IQTH, 1945 is Share Work of the Medium Bombers : Interdiction by Day and Night : Variety of Targets By JOHN YOXAIX IN this article our war correspondent gives a general picture of part played by the Bostons, Mitchells and Mosqu:toes in the great interdiction plan which so upset the logistics of the German General Staff. He describes also a visit to a Mitchell airfield on the day previous to the fateful Rhine crossing IN describing the part played by No. 2 Group it is diffi-cult to know how far back to go, because every bombdropped in the whole "war has had some effect on events as we see them to-day. Fifteen Blenheims of No. 2 Group were part of a formation of 39 aircraft which dropped the first bombs of the war. These bombs were dropped as a result of a recce, flight by Blenheims of No. 2 Group at 11.00 hours on September 3rd, 1939. The first British bomber over Berlin was also a Blenheim of No. 2 Group. This occurred on the night of June 23rd-24th, 1940. To paraphrase an old saying, since then many bridges have passed under the water; not a few of them by the efforts of Boston and Mitchell bomb-aimers. It is, however, the events of the past year or so with which we are mostly concerned. As soon as the existence of sites for the launch- . ing of flying bombs had become an established fact, the Group made it one of its major cares to put as many as possible out of action. In the first five months of 1944 no fewer than 5,000 sorties were flown against these sites alone, and the Group was credited with 31 per cent, of the total number of sites suspended. This was a wonderful effort, especially bearing in mind that the aircrews were competing against the American Army Air Forces and Bomber Command. Pre-invasion Targets Because of their ability to hit small targets hard, the medium bombers were switched, a short time before D-day, to pre-invasion targets. Gun positions, strong points and troop concentrations all came within their purview, and it was along a funnel of smoke laid by Bostons that the land- ing craft went into the beaches. At the same time the Mosquito squadrons were hard at it developing the art of night interdiction, doing in the hours of darkness what the fighter and medium bombers do during the day. That is to say, fly low over the roads, railways and canals behind the enemy lines, shoot- ing-up any transport which dares to venture abroad. They normally operate at anything from 150 miles to 200 miles behind the enemy lines, but as an operation A Mitchell wing such as the Rhine crossing comes close, ? ,. °' « yr°uP the net is drawn tighter in order to sortie the day°pre- have a more immediate effect on the vious to the Rhine battlefield. In other words, they go crossing. from the semi-strategic to the bombing of tactical targets. During my visit to 2nd T.A.F. for the Rhine crossing, I visited a Mitchell wing and heard the Wing Commander Flying describe much of the work done and how it is performed. In a sort of rapt, enthusiasm he gradually mounted his chair until he was sitting on the back with his feet on the seat, and the whole ensemble defying the laws of gravity by leaning back at a crazy angle. In his hands he had a particularly good-tempered Perspex ruler, which was expected to perform the evolu- tions of a Toledo sword-blade in emphasis of special remarks. The art of day bombing, usually in "boxes" of 12 aircraft, has been brought to a fine art. When the target is visual the British Mark XIV automatic bomb sight is em- ployed. The bomb aimers say this is "so good that you can't miss." On the run in the sight is adjusted for height, speed, wind and type of bomb, .and any deviation of the
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