DARING OPERATIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 249, 2 August 1941, Page 5

DARING OPERATIONS.

BOMBERS LOOK FOR SHIPPING. ATTACK ON GERMAN CONVOY. LONDON, August 1. Flying between the masts and within a few feet of the muzzles of anti-air-craft! guns, Blenheim aircraft of the Bomber Command yesterday aftemoo'n attacked several enemy ships in. Heligoland Bight. During the raid many enemy fighters were on patrol, but in spite of them and a stiff anti-aircraft fire from the escort vessels, the pilots almost scraped the decks of ship after ship in the heavily-guarded convoy. One Blenheim came home with a ship’s aerial entangled round its tail wheel. The wire now hangs as a trophy in the sergeants’ mess. Another Blenheim ignoring the menace of guns at point blank range, was hit and one petrol tank caught, fire, but the crew quickly mastered the flames and after a successful attack came safelv home.

In ail attack on the convoy of six ships, a direct hit on a 1500-ton merchant ship sent her heeling to port and she was left sinking. A 1200-ton ship in the same convoy was hit aft of the funnel and blown up. The captain of the Blenheim, which scored this success, said that his formation had to fly through thick cloud and a North Sea squall before the clouds dispersed into thin stratus over the convoy. “I watched my wing commander,” lie said, “going in to attack another 1500 tonner and saw the ship blow up in a wild explosion of debris, flame, steam and smoke. AVe continued on a zig-zag course until we sighted another convoy heading northeast to cut oil' the. Bight. I decided to pick off the last ship in the convoy and flew over the mast and bombed from 30 feet.”.

A 500-ton ship' was attacked by two bombers. One got a direct hit amidships and there was so much smoke from .the explosion that the crew of the second bomber could not distinguish the result of their own attack. The ship was left well alight.

A few enemy aircraft pvere seen approaching the English coast, but none of them penetrated inland.