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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0941.PDF
MAY 17TH, 1945 FORTRESS TOWN : A Superfortress base in the Marianas from which the American 21st Bomber Command operates against Japan. In Europe " Othello*s Occupation's Qone " : Coastal Command Works On : Eyes Now on the East : Australian Bombers Busy LL along the front from Narvik to Bordeaux the bugles have sounded the call which Tommy v^tkins translates into the words, 'Let 'em alone," or its American, Russian, or French equivalent. Only for Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force has the call brought no imme- diate relaxation. Bomber pilots may fly over London with apparent disre- gard for regulations as to minimum heights—what a strange fascination lying low over built-up areas has for some pilots!—but Coastal Command patrols have to be continued until it is certain that every U-boat has re- ceived the order of Admiral Donitz and is making its way back to port on the surface, flying its black flag. Coastal Command started the war gal- lantly, patrolling the North Sea and the other waters round the British Isles with its bare 20 squadrons of fly- jug boats, Ansons and Hudsons. Dur- ing the war it grew to a size consider-ab 'Y greater than that of the whole Air Force in 1939. It spread its bases as far afield as Iceland and the Azores, and it bridged the gap in the middle of the Atlantic where sinkings used at one time to be most numerous. It gradually came to employ almost every knovm type of aircraft, except single-seater fighters, and it ended the war with a highly effective campaign against the German shipping in " the Skagerrak and Kattegat. The crews of the ships taking supplies to the Germans in Norway or bringing troops home from there must have been as pleased as anyone when they heard that the war was over. They have had a holy horror of those Halifaxes and Beaufighters. For other Commands the order to surrender by Admiral Donitz brought an immediate cessation of work. But at first it was not certain whether the Germans would or would not fight on in Norway. Squadrons of the 2nd Tactical Air Force had moved up into Denmark and occupied several air- fields in that flat country, in case the need should come to fly further north. It did not come. The holiday and the feeling that slaughter was over would be as welcome ti the airmen as to all other branches of the fighting forces We only hope that no pilot crashed his undercarriage during those first days and gave work to the splendid ground crews. All thrcugh the war no class of man has done more tiring work, without admitting fatigue, than the ground crews of the Royal Air Force. Many a battle might have been lost if those men had, failed to keep_ their '' heart and nerve and sinew '' work- ing long after they had gone, and so (the Kipling quotation is familiar) '' hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them. Hold On!" Now our eyes turn eastward. One may start with a good laugh—and the war has not produced many occasions for mirth. But when the Japanese protest that the Germans have deserted
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