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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1239.PDF
J-ULY 7TH, 1949 FLIGHT During the night, the main attack was focused on Derby,when simulated T.I.s were lit at the Rolls-Royce works, with the Marker Force Mosquitoes leading a main forceof Lincolns. The raid was conducted at between 15,000 and 20,000ft and continuous attacks were made by nightfighters. The second heavy raid of the night was on London when, soon after midnight, 20 Lancasters and amedium force of Mosquitoes attacked the Battersea Power Station from between 17,000 and 20,000ft. Night fightersagain intercepted and attacked over the whole approach and departure route. On Wednesday, the 29th, enemy formations were de-tected concentrating in the Flushing area, and moving towards the Thames Estuary. They turned out to be about30 Wellingtons at 17,000ft which, although intercepted by Meteors and Vampires, penetrated to attack Birminghamfrom about 10,090ft soon after mid-day. The attacking iorce's tactics for deceiving and dividing Fighter Com-mand's resources then became apparent, for simultaneous attacks were made by Ansons on Derby and by Mosquitoeson Coventry ; the latter raid was intercepted by the Dutch Meteors. In the afternoon B-29S came in at 25,000ftshortly after 1400 hr, aiming at Northolt, and, a little later, another force of Superforts were plotted heading for Lincolnto attack Sheffield. • , Assorted Attacks * At approximately the same time, other B-29.S crossedthe coast near Cromer to attack London, whilst later on still more B-29S crossed Lowestoft at 25,000ft for a raid onDerby. In all of these raids the intruders were strongly and consistently attacked, the last-mentioned raid on Derbybeing made after a -running battle with a wing of Meteors and U.S. 36th Fighter Group F-8os from Horsham St..Faith. Apart from this high-level activity, a large number <©f Hornets made low-level attacks in pairs or in smallformations on airfields and radar installations during the whole daylight period and, of these, too, claims by Meteorsand Vampires for successful interceptions were made. Night operations started with a small high-level attackby B.A.F.O. Mosquitoes on airfields in Kent, Essex and Hampshire, in poor visibility. Just before midnight, astrong force of Lincolns and Lancasters, with Mosquitoes acting as markers, crossed the coast at Grimsby betweenSf5,ooo and 18,000ft, heading towards Sheffield. They turned, however, towards Birmingham, crossing overDerby en route, to deliver their attack on the B.S.A. works from 20,000ft at about 0010 hr. This attack, one of theheaviest of the Exercise up to that time, lasted 25 minutes, and night fighters were extremely busy the whole time. A short while before this main attack, a small force ofMosquitoes made a diversionary raid on Coventry, and a feint raid on London was carried out by a medium force Fighter Command's servicing personnel, as well as the pilots, found the exercise a hectic, but welcome, break from routine. In the interval between scrambles. Meteors are seen receiving attention. of Lancasters which came in from the North Sea at iS.oooft at 0025 hr. Low stratus approached the East Anglian airfields at dusk, causing fog in most of the southern area of the Exercise, and for this reason no operations were carried out during the night in 11 Group area. Thus, all the night-fighter activity was in 12 Group, "jut the weather deteriorated to such a degree that the night fighters were recalled soon after 0100. A.A. Command guns, however, were busy and claimed two certain " kills " on the aircraft attacking Birmingham between 10,000 and 19,000ft. Thursday, June 30th, saw Vampires again withdrawn from Fighter Command to act as jet bombers, but this time at low level. Just before reaching their radar-installation target in Norfolk, however, they were intercepted by four Meteors and F-8os. The consequence of this was a running battle all over Norfolk, leading the Vampires to run out of fuel so that they had to land at Horsham St. Faith. After a short time in "captivity," however, the raiders were refuelled and returned to base. At 1135, a P.R. Spitfire was intercepted at 38,000ft by Meteors off the coast near Cromer, and report has it that the Spitfire was by no means easily subdued—a pointed indication of the importance of low span-loading at great height. In the afternoon, a force of about 30 Welling- tons crossed near Yarmouth to fly over Norwich, Peterborough and Rugby before turning towards London. They passed over the capital at 1345, flying at 17,000ft, to attack an oil refinery in the Docks area, being sub- jected the whole time to running combats with The continued dry weather and blast from jets played havoc with the fighter airfields. Every scramble entailed a duststorm.
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