RAID ON BERLIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 3, 15 October 1940, Page 8

RAID ON BERLIN

PILOTS TELL STORY.

NOTHING LEFT TO CHANCE, One night when intensive R.A.F. raids were carried into Germany pilots competed for the honour of taking part in a heavy attack on targets' in Berlin, states a report in the London Press. Aircraft drawn from two squadrons made a. special attack on one objective only four miles from the centre of the city. Every pilot in the two squadrons wanted to be in on the raid. “You could not have bought a seat in' any of the aircraft for any ; amount of money,” said a senior intelligence officer. In one ease, two pilots “tossed for it.” They were normally the first and second pilots in the same aircraft. Their difficulty, however, was that the machine had been more or less “commandeered” by' the squadron’s commanding officer, •who, not .having bis own machine available, declared that in no circumstances was be going to miss this big raid. That meant that either the first or second pilot had to .stand out. Each protested that he was entitled to go.

The Wing Commander .thought it over for a minute, then told them to toss up for it.

It was just as dusk was gathering that the aircraft set off. A few hours later the. first machine returned. A sergeant pilot and his crew marched into the intelligence room together, unruffled and unexcited, to give their account of the raid. Scottish Lad’s Mascot. The rear gunner, a stockily-built Scotsman, was carrying a toy “Scottie” dog as a mascot. “He’s been everywhere—Heligoland, Stavanger, France, over a whole Jot of Germany and now Berlin,” he declared. “We went straight to Berlin and straight back,” said the sergeant pilot. “We took seven hours exactly.”

As they were being interrogated by an intelligence officer the roar of other planes returning could be heard overhead. . Soon their crews began to fill tbe room.

The captain of the second aircraft, a young pilot officer, told his story next. They had attacked the power station.

“We bombed at 24.00 hours—dead on midnight,” he said. “Somebody bad been there before us. When we arrived we found the target well on fire. We could see it when avc were 25 minutes’ flying time away. “We came in more or less north to south and put our stick of bombs down just to the left of this big fire. Then four more fires started. They Averc burning Avith very bright AA'hite lights. Altogether avo Avere cruising round over Berlin for about half an hour.” Fifty Minutes Over City. Many of the bombers Avere over Berlin at the same time while in other parts of the outskirts those from other groups, taking, part in the night’s operations coulj he seen in the distance. : .. t : “I saw eight or ten flares dropping over Berlin and about a dozen lots of other people’s: bombs doing down during the time Ave AA’ere there,” said one pilot. “We spent 50 minutes over tin city. Flares seemed to .be dropping all over the place.” Other crews described how they attacked their target from all directions. A stick of bombs from one bomber overshot and fell across an adjacent railway yard. Another captain and his creAV reported that after they had made their attack they saAV a fire from 50 miles away Avhen on their return journey. The Wing Commander j in his commandeered aircraft, made three runs over the target.

“We took about three-quarters of on hour attacking it,” he said. “The first tAvo times we Avere on it too soon for the bomb aimer to release his bombs in time, so avc had to come round a third time. AAvay over the other side of Berlin I saw some of my other boys at their Avork.’’

The bomb aimer in this machine declared: “It Avasn’t Avorth Avhile. going all that way and then not bombing Avliat avc had. been sent out to bomb, so I didn’t let them go until I Avas dead sure.’’ Comprehensive Tour Round. Another pilot described bow be made, a “sort of rectangular run. ail round Berlin.” This Avas the bomber from which members of the creAV -had seen a fire burning on the works 50 miles aAvav on the homeward journey. The pilot, said :“At one time when avc were closer, there seemed to he a line, half a mile long, of white-hot fire.” They had dived from 12,000 to 501 iD feet to attack the poAver station.

Another objective was attacked at intervals from 11.35 until after one o’clock in the morning. One of the first raiders saw his bombs burst on the target area, and a fairly large fire Avas burning as be Uoav away. At almost the same time another pilot, attacking from' a slightly loAver altitude, dropped bis stick of heavy bombs. “I suav them straddle the target,” be said, “but was not able to see the full results because I Avas in a warm corner thanks to the anti-aircraft batteries and searchlights.” Intense searchlight activity and some haze prevented several other pilots, Avho made their attacks from various heights and different directions at about this time, from observing results. But Avhen a few minutes after midnight another aircraft dropped its high explosives and incendiari is the haze had cleared sufficiently to enable the pilot to note four fires in the south central part of the target. At 12.20 following yet another snKo across the buildings, there Avas a violent explosion and a large fire AvliiJi could be seen burning fiercely 15

minutes after the attack. Taking his hearings from a sheet of water, one raider dropped his stick of heavy bombs on works near the Tegol See, one of Berlin’s lakes. Owing io haze, he Avas unable to determine the success of this attack, but 20 minutes later another pilot saw a fire at these works.