OPPORTUNITY MISSED BY GERMAN IN AIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 134, 8 June 1944, Page 6

OPPORTUNITY MISSED BY GERMAN IN AIR

CAUSE OF SURPRISE

30,000 Airmen Over France In Few Hours

IV.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, June 7.

T he ai , r , wai ' U P to to-day had been italicised by one big surprise—where was the Luftwaffe? In the long weeks before the invasion began it was known that the Germans were storing up a force of bombers and fighters, which it was expected would be used to make every attempt to smash up the landing forces at their weakest stage—when upon the water.

But throughout the long day of historic June 6 very few German aircraft were seen. "The ports will be bombed by the Luftwaffe before the invasion," it had been thought, and again, "there will probably be another air battle like that fought during the Dieppe landing," but the bombing of the English ports and beaches, black with craft, did not eventuate, and the landings were carried out with virtually no more than pinpricks from the air.

It was also anticipated that at least on the night of June 6-7 German bombers would be used on a large scale against the bridgehead, but neither did this occur.

On the second day more combats were reported, but still nothing like it had been anticipated. On the first day the weather conditions were not altogether favourable, in that the sky was studded with low clouds. One pilot said: "It would have been the easiest thing in the world for German aircraft to have nipped in and out of the clouds, but they never came."

To give some idea of the magnitude of the Allied air effort, on the morning of the invasion no fewer than 30,000 airmen had been over the bridgehead between dawn and breakfast time, and at one period in the day there were no fewer than 7000 aircraft airborne at the same time.

It is thrilling to be on an airfield —any airfield—on the South Coast at the present time. The sky is never really free from the drone of aircraft. Either you can see fighters taking off or roaring over the airfield, resembling giant wasps, for Allied air superiority is such that all aircraft, in addition to the R.A.F. rondels or the U.S.A.A.F. white star, have broad white and black lines painted at right angles on the wings for easy identification.

Aii-men Remarkably Calm

Or you can see other squadrons forming up in a wide circle, or, again, still more squadrons bunched in neat, tight formations tearing over the sky towards France, or again you can see squadrons returning, breaking formation and circling the airfield like wasps around a jam pot.

Yet the pilots and ground crews are taking everything remarkably calmly. They buzz with excited chatter while being interrogated, but once in the dispersals lounge reading papers, smoking and chatting, or in the mess they seem to treat their share in the great operation as an everyday occurrence. It is in the late evening, after they have flown on four patrols, that you can see that they are sleepy. Their faces are slightly drawn and pale and their eyes red-rimmed. As they chat waiting for their last instructions of the day they recount some of the glimpses they have had of the bridgehead. One pilot, for instance, saw a solitary tank come out from a wood into a clearing and then a moment or two later another tank suddenly appeared on the other side of the clearing.