PART PLAYED BY R.A.F.

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23494, 24 November 1941, Page 5

PART PLAYED BY R.A.F.

Support For Land Forces SUPPLY LINES ATTACKED (8.0. W.) RUGBY. November 22. The great part which Empire air forces are playing in the Libyan battle is described in to-night’s Royal Air Force communique from the Middle East. It says: “Intensive operations by our fighter and bomber aircraft were carried out in the Libyan battle area on Friday. Heavy bombing raids in which Flying Fortress aircraft took a prominent part were made on the landing ground and dispersal points at El Gazala, while throughout the day close support was given to our land forces. “At Bir Hachiem concentrations of enemy tanks and motor transport were effectively attacked. Bardia, Menastir, and objectives in the Fort Capuzzo area were also bombed. One of our bombers shot down an enemy fighter in flames. “In the course of extensive fighter sweeps, enemy aircraft were engaged whenever they were met. Two CR42’s and one GSO were shot down. In an attack on enemy aircraft on the ground at Slonta, three Junkers 87’s and one Junkers 88, also one unidentified aircraft, were destroyed. One Messerschmitt 110 was shot down by fire from the ground. “From all operations five of our aircraft are missing.” The Royal Air Force was active over the battle areas throughout Thursday. Fighters engaged enemy aircraft attempting to attack British armoured forces, and bombed the bases of the German dive-bombers. At least 37 enemy aircraft were destroyed, and many others severely damaged. Heavy attacks were also made on the enemy’s vital supply lines between Italy and Libya. Bardia, Derna, Benghazi, and Tripoli, all ports of disembarkation for enemy reinforcements and supplies, and Naples, Brindisi, and Messina, the principal embarkation ports, have been heavily bombed. From all these operations, nine British aircraft are missing. Ninety-two enemy aeroplanes have been destroyed or captured so far, and 17 probably destroyed. The British losses are 24, but several British pilots landed by parachute. Enemy Airmen Captured Not a day’s march from El Adem is the landing grounded Rezegh. British land forces, after a short engagement, captured it. On It they found no fewer than 19 aircraft shot up the previous day by British Tomahawks. They were, according to one pilot, “paraded like soldiers.” So rapid had been the operations by the British armoured units that pilots and ground staffs were still on the airfield, and were rounded up and taken prisoner before they were fully aware of their plight. Fifty were seized and, still bewildered, were put under guard until vehicles were available. The Tomahawk aircraft which shot up the landing ground were flown by pilots of the South African Squadron. A major described the operations thus: “We expected to find the aircraft dispersed all .over the landing ground, but they were neatly lined up on one side with one pilot just taxi-ing into position. There was some anti-aircraft stuff flung up at us, but apart from a few bullet holes in the leading aircraft it did no damage. “I knew we had rendered most of them unserviceable.” Task of Moving Bases A dispatch received in London from a Royal Air Force officer on service in the Western Desert gives some idea pf the speed and manner in which the Imperial air forces are pushing -forward their bases in co-operation with the advancing land forces. The officer writes:-“We arrived at an air field inside Libya at sunset on Wednesday, after driving continuously for 10 hours over rough, stony ground. Early in the morning Royal Air Force armoured cars reached the site—just a reference on a map given them by an aerodrome location officer, ■vyho had chosen it after a .dangerous reconnaissance. As a precaution,-armoured cars went first, and a. short while later were followed by anti-aircraft batteries and Lewis guns. "The search for these advanced aerodromes inside enemy territory has been a hazardous job for a number of officers for many weeks. I went on one of these trips a few days before _ the offensive opened. Compass bearings took us into the forward area along the frontier, our car making runs backwards and forwards across the ‘skating rink’ surface of clay pans which dot the desert. If the measurements are suitable they make ideal landing grounds. .“Systematically, we covered a large area, checking the length with the car’s speedometer. As twilight faded, our night fighters circled overhead, landing one by one. It was a squadron scheduled to operate next day. These pilots had been operating continuously since dawn, changing their base three times in four days. “At half past five on Thursday morning the-engines of eight Tomahawks were being warmed up, and in half an hour the squadron was in the air. In a few minutes the machines had disappeared on their first job. By 9 o’clock enemy ground units had been heavily raided three times by mixed formations of American-built Glenn Martins flown by South Africans and Blenheims of the Royal Air Force. The attack was repeated at midday and again at dusk. Wadis and encampments between Acroma and El Adem were pounded repeatedly, dispersed vehicles being riddled by bombs and shrapnel, and many being set on fire.” Successes of Beauflghtcrs Following are some of the successes which a squadron of Bristol Beaufighters has gained in the last five days in the Western Desert. Without loss to itself the squadron shot down eight enemy aircraft and destroyed a further 28 on the ground. In an encounter with five Junkers 52 troopcarriers near Barce on November 18 all five aircraft were shot down. Apart from these successes against enemy aircraft, the squadron in the same five days destroyed or damaged 20 lorries, five other vehicles, and four petrol tankers and killed a number of enemy personnel. The Bristol Beauflghter is a longrange day and night fighter. It is a midwing monoplane with a speed of more than 330 miles an hour, and its powerful armament consists of four cannon and six machine-guns. It carries a crew of two—a pilot and a navigator and observer. OIL FOR GERMAN AIR FORCE AMERICAN EXPORTS TO SPAIN (Received November 23, 11.5 p.m.) LONDON, November 22. A newsletter published in London says that 40,000 barrels of high-grade oil for the German Air Force are among 127,000 barrels of United States petroleum products which went to Spain in November. The newsletter adds that so much Spanish dive oil is being exported for conversion into lubricants for the Germans that there is none left for Spanish cooking.