HEAVY DAMAGE DONE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23445, 27 September 1941, Page 9

HEAVY DAMAGE DONE

R.A.F. ATTACKS IN DAYLIGHT VITAL INDUSTRIES IN GERMANY (Received September 26, 9 p.m.) (U.P.A.-8.0.W.) LONDON, Sept. 25 The aviation correspondent of the j “Daily Mail” says the lull in the j bombing of Germany by the Royal Air | Force in the past week has been solely i due to the weather on the Continent.; Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force ■ will again pound Germany when con- J ditions permit. i An Air Ministry communique states: I “The weather yesterday was Very unfavourable for air operations, but air- j craft on patrol continued the attack; on enemy shipping. Off the coast of Norway a Hudson of the Coastal Com-1 mand bombed a large enemy supply j ship from a low level, and off Dunkirk i Hurricanes of the Fighter Command attacked enemy minesweepers with cannon and machine-gun fire.” A reconnaissance has now proved the success of a number of attacks made in davlight last week-end when the Bomber and Fighter Commands were exceptionally busy over the Continent. With or without fighter escort, bombers, states the Air Ministry News Service, were out in daylight over Nor. way. over Emden, and over Dutch territory, while in France they attacked a number of points which had become essential cogs in the German war machine. The bombing last Sunday of the electric power station and chemical works at Gosnay, near Bethune, was conspicuously successful. While strong forces of fighters kept all Messerschmitts away, the Blenheim crews were able to make steady bombing runs over a great area of the works and almost at leisure direct their bombs at the most important and vulnerable parts of the plant There was a direct hit. and possibly two, on the south-west boiler house of the power station, and another on the north-east boiler house. Bombs burst on railway sidings and rolling stock and several bombs fell along the south-west edge of a dynamo house and on a coal-wash-ing plant. A coal conveyer and workshop were hit again and again. There were at least six direct hits on the chemical works. Bombs burst on the oil pipe line and finally incendiaries fell right among the oil-tanks where they would be likely to do as much harm as anywhere in the plant. The important railways yards at Hazebrouck were bombed last Saturday by Blenheims with a fighter escort, and here again the bombs burst just where they would be most effective. There were several direct hits on a point where the railway tracks converge to form a bottleneck, as well as on a large engine shed and on rolling stock. On this very busy Saturday, Blenheims made a vigorous attack on the docks at Cherbourg. A stick of bombs burst on submarine shelters and on the west side of the Basin Napoleon and others burst on ships. The Germans have installed south of Dunkirk a very powerful searchlight which British people have nicknamed “Bertha’s Eye.” Every clear night the great beam spreads fanwise across 30 miles of water, lighting up a stretch of the English coast and blinding motorists caught in the beam. D.F.C. AWARDED CHRISTCHURCH PILOT LONDON, September 25. Flight Lieutenant Thomas Patrick Gibson, of New Zealand, has been, awarded the D.F.C. He was bom in Christchurch in 1913. The citation states: “Flight Lieutenant Gibson has completed more than 1000 hours’ operational flying as a pilot of a Sunderland flying-boat He is a wholly reliable pilot, whose steadi-

ness and ability have inspired confidence in his crew. He has aways shown great eagerness to undertake any operational task allotted to him in the North Atlantic and elsewhere, and he has frequently carried out patrols in weather which would have deterred many. “After August, 1940, Flight Lieutenant Gibson acted as captain several times, and as a flight commander. He has always set a splendid example.” Flight Lieutenant Gibson is a son of Inspector Thomas Gibson, of the Police Force, who died last Sunday—five days before the announcement of his son’s distinction. Born in Christchurch in 1913, Flight Lieutenant Gibson was educated at the Marist Brothers School. He later went on to the Timaru Boys’ High School and then Sacred Heart College in Auckland and then to Auckland University College. For the last 18 months before he went to England in 1938 to join the Royal Air Force, he worked in Christchurch for the I>ands and Survey Department, and attended Canterbury University College. He did his preliminary air training at Wigram with the Canterbury Aero Club. AUSTRALIAN OFFICERS HONOURED (8.0. W.) RUGBY. September 25. Companionship of the Order of the Bath has been conferred on Acting-Air Marshal F. M. Drummond, who was born in Perth, Western Australia, and who is now Deputy-Air Officer Com-manding-in-Chief in the Middie East, and on Air Vice-Marshal A. Conningham. who was born in Brisbane and is now Air Officer Commanding a Royal Air Force group in the Middle East. Wing Commander G. E. Sampson, of Brisbane, who is now engaged in staff duties at headquarters of the Fighter Command, has been created an. Officer of the Order of the British Empire.