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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1513.PDF
SEPTEMBER I6TH, 1948 FLIGHT A glance at the story of that last night attack will show how well the night bombers were handled by the commander, and how well the crews must have flown to produce the desired effect.' At 2230 hours two attacks on Grimsby and Harwich were identified, and fighters were sent up to meet them. The Harwich raid proved to be a decoy, but it drew off the fighters so that a much bigger force could slip through behind them, making for London from the North-East. Soon afterwards another big-scale attack was plotted near Kings Lynn, while minelaying aircraft added to the anxieties of the night-fighter controllers, and every effort was made by the bombers to fog the radar. There were several interceptions that night, but they were not numerous enough to stem the stream of bombers which attacked targets in the Lon- don area for more than an hour. By the evidence of these Exercises, the R.A.F. may be well content that its main bomber force consists of night bombers. By the same evidence, the Air Staff may conclude that night-flying jet fighters could serve a useful purpose, employing their speed to switch from a decoy raid to the real attack, to make good a pursuit and to climb fast. On the other hand, -the night bomber's best friend, when "window " or other anti-radar device is used, is the long sea approach. Some- thing more than fogging the radar is needed over the land, where observer posts can do much to keep track of the night raider's tricks. One other thing which ought to be said about these Exercises is that they proved the quality of new officers, airmen and airwomen who had no war experience. They made the machine work extremely well. At times, Fighter Command had only a vague idea of the target at which a bomber formation was aiming, but it always knew by day where the bombers were. If it was occasionally misled by night, no impartial observer would blame it or take upon himself with any confidence to point out how these weak- nesses could be turned into strength. E. C. S. FIGHTER COMMAND SUMMARY BOMBER COMMAND have attacked in every way to makethe defence of "Northland" difficult. Attacks have been made at varying heights and at varying strengths from oneaircraft to major forces. These attacks have been spread over " Northland " and have exercised the defences thoroughly. Inevery phase the exercise and destruction rate has been satisfac- tory despite the adverse weather conditions. By day and by night the weather has been bad. There hasbeen cloud from low altitude up to great heights, there have been frequent rainstorms and the visibility has been generallypoor. The weather has therefore provided ideal conditions for the test of a force capable of flying in all conditions. It was necessary for the exercise to throw into gear the wholecontrol and reporting machinery which had not been used as a whole since the end of the war. The restoration and main-tenance of the landlines involved, has given the General Post Office a large part in the exercise. Very few controllers hadhad any actual experience of war conditions and many of the W.A.A.F. and airmen plotters were new to the job and unusedto the long and tedious hours of work involved. During the week-end the system has been fortified by thousands of theAuxiliary personnel of the Air Defence Units and the volun- teer members of the Royal Observer Corps, many of whomhave travelled long distances in order to gain some experience in the area of the exercise. Distances travelled included jour-neys from central Scotland to Nottingham and the North Mid- lands to London, and in centres all over the country theReserve forces and the Royal Observer Corps have been experi- encing their first spell of wartime conditions and hours of worksince the termination of hostilities. In the case of the Royal Observer Corps much of their spell of duty was necessarilyspent out in the open in unpleasant weather conditions. For ' some of the recruits of the Auxiliary Services who did notsee service during the war this exercise was their first tour of night operations. Civil aircraft have been plotted in addition to the aircrafttaking part, but there has been no interference with civil flying. Those taking part in the exercise have risen magni-ficently to the demands made upon them and have contributed B 5 Refuelling a Meteor at one of "Northland's " fighter stations. in large measure to its success. - i . Despite difficult weather conditions a large number of inter-ceptions have been made by day and by night by Regular and Auxiliary squadrons. No figures of aircraft judged to bedestroyed will be available until the records are analysed but the number of interceptions made is satisfactory. The numberof interceptions at sea was also considered satisfactory. The Auxiliary squadrons operating under war conditions forthe first time since the war and in some cases with no Regular assistance have achieved results comparable with the Regularsquadrons. Nos. 504 (City of Nottingham) and 615 (County of Surrey) squadrons have been particularly successful. TheScottish Auxiliary squadron also did good work. Among the many features of the exercise is the excellent wayin which the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and the Air Defence Units have worked together with the Regular Air Force. Thework of the W.A.A.F. in the plotting rooms and on stations has shown that they are able and willing to work under stressas were the W.A.A.F. in wartime. Parallel with R.A.F. Fighter Command, Anti-Aircralt Com-mand has taken its place in the defence scheme, both Terri- torial and Regular Anti-Aircraft Units have benefited greatlyfrom the exercise and have gained as much valuable experience as the Royal Air Force. BOMBER COMMAND SUMMARY THE Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief R.A.F. Bomber Com-mand, Air Marshal A. B. Ellwood, C.B., D.S.C., said: " Throughout the exercise the attacking forces of ' Southland 'navigated their way to their targets through bad weather con- ditions, which included heavy cloud, stretching on occasionsupwards from very low level to 30,000ft and delivered their attacks both by day and by night." The enemy reacted violently to these attacks, nevertheless,heavy bombers forced their way in waves of fifty or more to bomb Clapham Junction, Vauxhall Bridge and electrical instal-lations in the Chelsea area. The War Department in White- hall was considered obliterated during one raid.Forces of heavy United States Air Force bombers attacked industrial centres in Coventry, Nottingham, Leicester, Swindon,Reading and London. "Southland ' photographic reconnaissance aircraft rangedfar and wide over enemy territory during the exercise and secured valuable information on the location of new "war factories." Low level attacks were also made on enemy airfields in theSouthern part of England and on two occasions a row of fighters were caught refuelling on the ground. They were attacked andwhen "Southland's" aircraft left the fighters were assumed to be burning furiously and the crews dashing for safety amidstexploding petrol bowsers, and at least thirty of the enemy's latest and most vaunted fighters were claimed to be destroyed. During one of the attacks a night fighter controller washeard over the radio telephone vectoring his forces on to the enemy bombers. This enemy radar control station was laterdestroyed by cannon and machine gun fire from low level. Weather considerations during the period of the exercisewere very changeable. The main problem was to decide on landing conditions at home bases on the return of the bombersin the early morning hours. It was realized before the bombers were despatched that it might be necessary to divert them,on completion of their mission, to airfields in the Western half of the country. However, despite adverse weather conditions" Southland " bombers claimed a number of successful missions.
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