BERLIN RAIDED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 250, 4 August 1941, Page 3

BERLIN RAIDED

ONE OF HEAVIEST OF THE WAR. OTHER IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES. (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, August 3. Berlin had one of its heaviest raids of the war last night. Objectives in the city were attacked by aircraft of the Bomber Command, in one of the biggest raids they have yet made and big fires were left burning. Hamburg and Kiel were also raided, and gi’eat damage was done. The raid on Kiel was the second heavy attack in 24 hours. The Royal Air Force yesterday continued its daylight offensive over Germany and German-occupied France. Aerodromes were bombed and attacks were also made against shipping off the Belgian coast. It is officially stated that during an earlier daylight reconnaissance flight by a Flying Fortress aircraft of the Bomber Command yesterday, bombs were dropped on the docks at Kiel. A heavily laden German tanker of about 2000 tons was attacked yelterday afternoon by Beaufort aircraft of the Coastal Command off Ostend, states an Air Ministry communique. “The tanker was hit by a torpedo and burst into flames. Within a few minutes its deck was awash, and it was sinking rapidly. One of our aircraft is missing.” Wiinig Commander’s Calmness.

Wing Commander Whitney Straight, M.C., who was shot down over the French coast on Thursday, was leading a squadron of Hurricanes in a fighter-escorted bombing attack on enemy shipping, states the Air Ministry News Service; Thera was a good deal of low cloud and, taking advantage of this cover, the squadron attacked the vessels. Diving on to the ships they were met by a withering anti-aircraft fire. Wing Commander Straight was seen to pull out. of the dive and level out, with smoke pouring from his engine consistent with a flit on the radiator. Continuing their dive, the other pilots heard their leader’s voice calmly over the radio, “I have been hit. I am going tq make a forced landing in France. I order the squadron to return to its base.” The pilots swept the vessels .with their fire, levelled out, and flew back to the base as instructed. Some of them reported afterwards that they saw Wing-Commander Straight’s aircraft gliding down over the French coast toward land. Nearly two and a half years ago Wing Commander Straight joined a famous auxiliary fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force, and he has seen considerable action since the war started. In April last year he was detached on special duties in Norway where he won the Military Cross, and was severely wounded. Copies of a remarkable film, “Target for To-night,” which depicts the calm and methodical manner in which the Royal Air Force is striking at th,e heart of Germany, are being sent to Mr Roosevelt and M. Stalin. The film was made with the full co-operation of the Royal Air Force, and every part is played by a member of the Royal Air Force while carrying out his normal duties. Fighter Pilot’s Exploit. Side-slipping over the English countryside to keep the fumes from his damaged aircraft away from the cockpit a Spitfire pilot of the Fighter Command made a safe crash landing in a field 10 days ago. Only yesterday in hospital he was able to tell the story of how he brought the machine safely back after an offensive sweep in Northern France, in which he destroyed two Messerschmitts. “The leader and I were returning from a sweep when we sighted some Messerschmitts below us. I got on the tail of one of them and gave him a burst with my cannon and machine-gun fire. His port wing fell off and down he went. Just before reaching the clouds another Messerschmitt overshot me and I got in a lovely burst and sent him down. As I approached the sand dunes of the French coast lots of light anti-air-craft fire opened up and something dent an awful crack against the armour plating and caused, my right shoulder to sting. I was just coming towards Sheepy (in Leicestershire) at 400 feet when my engine spluttered and clouds of smoke came out. I had to side-slip to keep the fumes out and travelling about 100 miles an hour I slipved the flaps down. Luckily they worked, but as I had to straighten up just then the fumes began again and the last I can remember is seeing a hedge which was only 100 yards away getting very dim and waving about in front of me.”