PLANNING RAID

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1944, Page 5

PLANNING RAID

VAST ORGANISATION

Officer Tells Of Ground Work For Berlin Attack

R< A Lr m " RUGBY, Feb. 16. facts about n thp I ?i^ ancse i r gave some volved in nnftii ndous W01 ;k ingreat night's isation engaged in a A ]}V ge organwith an P lf l, battle of wits Germanv v larger organisation in organised" a^ 6 ? attack is planned, S n ® d and calculated with referwhich arp ll m!y t al i-i circumsta nces, themselves ?+ u J? llke] y to repeat Lnemselves at any future occasion. over inno ! 1 1 ?,? rte f t t Possible time well the air ?? aiicr-aft had to be got into scattpr«Ji ii nig , Without getting tn toi + t® the they had to keep together in spite of differtforfffl ho ,S w ecls ,and suitable operandvf ghts 01 the different types IL, us;,' s ;, ? ' eac t their target and All tine U , h i n about half an hour, and cloud done in darkness 4000 Men to Load Bombers nrowo W k s + a busy ni g h t for the air ? w f S ' h\it it was also a very long r^rvPi 1 " °n the ground, it took roughly 4000 men to get the bombs into the 1000 aircraft. The work took over five hours. Some 7000 nying personnel were briefed. There were something like 50 men working on the ground for each bomber in the air. "We used well over 1.000,000 gallons of petrol and many thousands of gallons of, oil. A great volume of fluid was needed for the hydraulic under-carriages, de-icing systems and the various pumps. Many thousands of radio valves had to be checked. On each bomber, station lorries had to be ready for such specialised work as servicing the accumulators, keeping the cars at the right air pressure and filling the oxygen cylinders. "Seven thousand fiving suits had to be prepared and "about 750,000 rounds of ammunition had to be stowed aboard after being packed in belts." The Secretary for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, stated in the House of Commons that 2369 British and 997 United States Army Air Force bombers, operating 'from Britain, were reported lost over Germany and northern Europe from January 1 to December 31 in 1943. The figures for January, 1944, were 319 British and 178 American planes lost.