CZECH AIRMEN’S COURAGE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23354, 13 June 1941, Page 8

CZECH AIRMEN’S COURAGE

♦ RECENT ATTACK ON HAMBURG HEAVY ANTI-AIRCRAFT BARRAGE (8.0. W.) RUGBY, June 11. The story of the courage of a Czechoslovakian crew of a Royal Air Force bomber during a recent attack on Hamburg is told in London. Within five miles of the town a searchlight picked up the aircraft, and by the time it reached the target area it was transfixed in a cone of 30 searchlights. Shells began to burst all round the bomber, and a few small splinters hit the starboard wing and the starboard side of the fuselage. The damage was not serious and the Czech crew kept on its way through an ever-increasing barrage. The captain kept a steady course and made % his bombing run without taking any evasive action which might have prevented the observer from taking accurate aim. The aircraft was hit twice. The captain heard the sound of breaking glass and felt a pain in his side. Though almost fainting, he kept at the controls and managed to keep the aircraft steady, to open the bomb doors, ana to follow the changes of course given him by the bomb-aimer. As the aircraft continued on its bombing run it was hit again and again. Two shell fragments went through the pilot’s cockpit without hurting anyone, and another fragment destroyed the wireless equipment, but the captain still held on his course till .the bombs were gone. Then he took violent evasive action and shook off the pursuing searchlights. When he had got well away from Hamburg, the captain handed the controls to the second pilot and the navigator and wireless operator helped him to a bunk in the middle of'the aircraft. The controls were working sluggishly, the hydraulic system having been put out of action. Without the hydraulic system it was impossible to lower the undercarriage, and the second pilot, who was making his first operational flight, had to make a bellylanding. , , When the aeroplane reached its base there were 93 holes in the wings and fuselage and more on the bottom of the fuselage. U.S. DIVE-BOMBER CLAIMS FOR NEW MACHINE BUFFALO, June 10. The United States Navy’s secret new dive-bomber has surpassed all hopes. A Curtiss-Wright machine, designed' “to outperform anything in the world,” it attains a top speed of “100 miles an hour faster than existing types,” including German Stukas, and it carries 20001b of bombs compared with the Stukas’ 5001b. It can fly twice the distance of any present model and can stay aloft for four and a half hours longer. It is powered by a Wright Cyclone engine of nearly 2000 horse-power, and is armed with a power-operated machine - gun turret which can sweep in a full circle. is believed that the new machine can dive at a speed exceeding 500 miles an hour.

ASSISTANCE FOR AIR ‘ RAID VICTIMS HULL, CANADA, HELPS HULL, ENGLAND (8.0. W.) - RUGBY, June 11. The totvn of Hull in Quebec province, Canada, recently returned the generosity of Hull, England, which 40 years ago raised a relief fund for the Assistance of sufferers in a fire which destroyed the former town. In an address to the Mayor and citizens of Hull, Canada, broadcast in Canada on the morning of -June 2 in connexion with the Canadian victory loan campaign, the Lord Mayor of Hull, England, which has been fhe victim of heavy German air raids, expressed deep gratitude for. the Canadian town's quick and generous aid. "Though many miles separate us, there are many ties which bind us,” he said. ‘‘There are ties of kinship for our sons and daughters across the sea. They love Canada and retain their affection for the Old Country. I know the people of Canada are with us in the great struggle now being waged for those things in life which are so precious to us all.”