BRITAIN’S DAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 39, 25 November 1939, Page 5

BRITAIN’S DAY.

AIR ACTIVITY AT THE FRONT. SEVEN BOMBERS DOWNED. LONDON, November 24. -- •A Paris message says that-for the second successive day the Germans suffered severe aerial reverses on the Western Front. It was Britain’s day, Hurricane fighters patrolling the Maginot Line shooting down seven German reconnaissance bombers. • It is officially confirmed that four of them were Dornier 17 machines. All the British airmen returned safely. So far the Germans have not dropped a bomb either on or behind the French front.

One British pilot attached to an advance squadron secured his second victim within a fortnight. He engaged a Dornier near Vousiers, dived on its tail, and fired a burst of 800 bullets. Further short bursts riddled the German machine from nose to tail and tore gaping holes in the fuselage. The machine crashed on a hilltop. Two of the crew leaped out dragging the wounded gunner. A French peasant who saw the landing .attempted to prevent the Germans setting fire to the aeroplane, but he was held off at revolver point. As the Dornier blazed, French soldiers raced across the‘field, and tho Germans surrendered.

The Air Ministry confirms that the Royal Air Force brought down seven German aeroplanes carrying out individual reconnaissance flights, over France.

Six fell over the Allied lines and one on the German side. The British personnel suffered no casualties, hut one aeroplane was hit and was forced to land. Another was damaged. The *‘Daily Mail” says that 150 aeroplanes were in action on the Western Front all day. A second Dornier was brought down near Chalons-sur-Marne. Two of the crew were wounded, and parachuted to the ground.. One was picked up dead, and the other found entangled in his parachute. The pilot was unhurt, and remained with the machine until it crashed 20 miles away. He was taken prisoner. A British fighter spotted a. third Dornier near - Saint Avoid, and shot it down. A few minutes later another Dornier was attacked by a fighter in this vicinity, and was last seen diving to earth, with its port engine on fire. The two occupants parachuted to the ground. Other reports state that British pilots brought down bombers near Saarbrucken and Tliionville. It is estimated that since the weather cleared four days ago, Allied fighters have brought down 18 enemy aeroplanes between the Belgian and Swiss borders;