FLIGHT ACROSS ATLANTIC

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23541, 20 January 1942, Page 6

FLIGHT ACROSS ATLANTIC

— ♦ — Mr Churchill Takes Controls JOURNEY KEPT SECRET (Received January 19, 7 p.m.) , (U.P.A.-8.0.W.) LONDON, Jan. 13. The Prime Minister (Mr Churchill), who landed at Plymouth yesterday on hie return from the United States, took over the controls of the giant Boeing fljrirg4K»t Berwick during part of the l»‘b*s K flight of more than 3237 miles from Bermuda. This flight is believed to set a record for a commercial air liner. The British Overseas Airways Corporation flying-boat which conveyed Mr Churchill's party from Bermuda to Plymouth was piloted by Commander J. Kelly Rogers. 0.8. E., one of the corporation's senior pilots. The flight was specially arranged by the Air Ministry. Commander Rogers, who was entertained at lunch at No. 10 Downing Street, to-day, disclosed that just alter breakfast, when the flight had started, Mr Churchill came to the control cabin and asked if he might take over. Commander Kelly agreed, and after getting the feel of the controls. Mr Churchill put the machine into two steep turns at 200 miles an hour. (He was smoking one of his famous cigars. Just as dawn broke, a United States naval launch brought Mr Churchill aboard the flying-boat at Norfolk, Virginia. The Prime Minister shook hands with the commander and crew before the take-off. Escort of Naval Aircraft United States naval aircraft escorted the flying-boat over the early stages of its long journey. Mr Churchill listened in to Commander Rogers exchanging messages with the leader of the American flight. The machine flew at a height of 8000 feet. Mr Churchill took the keenest interest in the operational technique, and after his spell at the controls, casuallv remarked that the Berwick was a far different proposition from the craft he had piloted in 1913. A correspondent describes how for hours he sat,behind the table from which Mr Churchill's flight was being controlled mile by mile, and like the other people at work in the room had no' idea that it was an unusual one, far less that the Prime Minister was taking part in it. He was visiting the master station of the Atlantic air control unit of the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, which, he says, may best be described as the Clapham Junction of the day and night service which brings heavy and medium bombers to Britain from the United States and Canada and carries passengers, freight, and mail both ways across the Atlantic. Records of Flights Against one wall of the room stood a blackboard on which was chalked information about the Liberators, Lockheed Hudsons, and flying-boats which were on the trans-Atlantic crossing or awaiting the signal to start. The wing commander in charge remarked casually over his shoulder to the people in the room; “A British Airways flying-boat from Baltimore is just air-borne from Bermuda. Kelly Rogers is captain. There is no information about passengers or freight. The estimated time of arrival in England is 8.25 a.m.” An airman orderly added the information in red crayon to the mass of data about the other aircraft over the Atlantic on the blackboard. To everyone in the control room it was only another aircraft off on the long Atlantic hop. There had been no request for special control service for this aircraft. Now and then there was a rusUe at one of thfe wireless receiving sets as an airman detached and handed over a leaf of cryptic notes—periodic signals in code from the Boeing and other aircraft far out over' the Atlantic. Half-way Across “They were meaningless to all of us except the wing commander,’’ the correspondent adds. "I heard him give a slight grunt as he glimpsed one of the messages and added to the line that was creeping across the chart from Bermuda to Britain to show the track of the flying-boat’s flight. “ ‘Kelly Rogers is just half-way over and only one mile off his course,’ he explained. So it went on through the night, a humdrum exchange of data between the master control station and the moving dot in the Atlantic. Without a suggestion or whisper from anywhere, Mr Churchill was in the background of it all. “Something like a white line along a dark country road had been seen to cross the Atlantic for more than 3000 miles, and Kelly Rogers scarcely ever deviated from it. A distant air station reported in the morning that two battle flights of Hudsons were on the way out there over the Atlantic. 1 saw from the chart that their course would take them on to the incoming flying-boat. It was assumed that they were going off*to take their daily share in the Battle of the Atlantic. “At 8.15 a.m., after 17$ hours, the flying-boat was over the south coast of England 12 minutes ahead of the schedule forecast on the previous day. At 8.48 a.m. the wing' commander looked up from the telephone and announced in unconscious alliteration that ‘Boeing Berwick, Baltimore-Ber-muda-Britain, is water-borne. The passengers include the Prime Minister,”’

MR CHURCHILL IN - BERMUDA

•SPEECH DELIVERED TO LEGISLATURE r ■' LONDON, January 18. a speech to the Bermuda Legislature during his visit to the islands, Mr Churchill said that 26 nations were now united in the fight which would be waged until freedom was established. "We are no longer alone,” he said. “When Britain stood alone we did not flinch or weaken because we could not see our way through. We did not falter, but did our duty. What a lesson it was never to give in when defending freedom.” “(Britain had done her best, and what. a--reward would be gained. Great nations had rallied to her, not for her own sake alone, but for freedom, ol which the British Empire was the oldest custodian.

; ALLIED SHIPS i SUNK

i SURVIVORS LAND IN CANADA ■ i i (Received January 19. 9 p.m.) OTTAWA, January 18. ■ Six survivors of a torpedoed 'Panama vessel were sent to hospital .at an eastern Canadian port after three ■and a half days in an open boat in the north Atlantic. One member of the crew said the ship was sunk by a small submarine. £wo more submarines were sighted Trom a lifeboat. One was so large that the crew thought it was a corvette. This '•submarine fired a torpedo across the 'lifeboat's bow, but it was scared off by flares. , Thirty-four members of a Russian jcrew, three of whom were women, reached the same port following the sinking of a‘Russian merchantman. The captain declared that he was under orders from the Red Admiralty not to disclose details of the sinking.

GERMAN PORTS ATTACKED

Bremen and Emden Bombed SHIPPING ATTACKED AT GUERNSEY (Received January 19, 11 p.m.) LONDON. January 19. Aircraft of the Bomber Command were over north-west Germany on Saturday night. Bremen, Emden, and other objectives were attacked. Three British aircraft are missing after these raids. _ The Air Ministry states that Beaufort aircraft of the Coastal Command bombed enemy ships in the harbour of St. Peter Port. Guernsey, on Saturday. German troops on the island were machine-gunned. Fighter Command patrols over northern France attacked objectives, which included enemy gun emplacements and a goods train. No aircraft is missing from these operatl0 During the attack on St. Peter Port, one aircraft flew so low over the harbour that it just missed the mast of a ship. Another dived on a German antiaircraft post and silenced it. As tne bombs fell the crews saw red flashes on the quayside and columns of smoke and steam. One pilot who chased some Germans off their improvised drill square beside a country house said afterwards: “They ran like hell m.o the house.’’ . .. . An official communique states trial earlv last night a single enemy aircraft dropped bombs at a place in south-west England. Otherwise there is nothing to report. Yesterday morning a single enemy air craft dropped bombs at a JJ oint ' n Shetland Islands. Some damage was caused and one person was injured. A small number of enemy ancralt flew over south-west England early on Saturday night, states a Communique. A few bombs were dropped. No on was hurt and there was little damage. Dornier Attacks Convoy An Admiralty communique states; “A twin-engined Dornier bomber which unsuccessfully attacked one of our convoys in the North Sea on baturday was shot down in flames by t ® destroyer Walpole. There were mo casualties or damage, either among the ships of the convoy or the ?! c0^ s - Lieutenant-Commander J. Eade "* commanding officer of the Walpole said- “There was a great deal of low cloud and it was dusk when the Dornier came out of the clouds and attacked onff of the ships in the convoy. His bombs missed. The Dornier then circled away. It was seen coming straight for us on our port quarters. After that it was a very quick job. We opened fire with everything we had and I think the barrage from our after four-inch guns put him off his aim, because the bombs dropped about 200 yards astern. “By that time everything which could be brought to bear fired at him The gun crews shot extremely well and waited until they could make sure of hitting. He went right over into a vertical bank, leaving his side exposed and never recovered. The pilot must have been killed. The bomber dived almost head on into the sea about, 600 yards from us. and as he crashed there was a pillar of flame about 50 feet high.” NEW AEROPLANE WING MORE EFFICIENT LIFTING POWER CLAIMED (Received January 19, 11.30 p.m.) LONDON. January 18. More efficient lifting power is claimed for a revolutionary type of aeroplane wing designed by a civil engineer, Mr W. F. Howard, says the aviation correspondent of "The Times.” Instead of being set at a positive angle, the new wing is set at a negative angle of one in seven. The wing is heavily cambered towards the leading edge and the underside is deeply concave. The tailplane is similar in shape, and is also set at a negative angle. The inventor claims that the model will fly a quarter as far again as the standard model, and from 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, faster. The design is based on the theory that a “wheel of air” is created under the main plane and tailplane and that the aircraft can utilise the upward surge of vortices for lift and forward thrust. NAZIS LEAVING SERBIA REINFORCEMENTS SENT TO RUSSIA REPLACED BY HUNGARIANS AND RUMANIANS (Received January 19. 11.20 p.m.) ANKARA, January 19. It is reliably reported from Belgrade that German troops are hurriedly withdrawing from Serbia, where they are being replaced by Hungarians and Rumanians. This is believed to be part of a plan to withdraw all German troops from the Balkans and send them to the Russian front. Serb patriot activities are undiminished. There is fierce fighting in western Croatia, where battles lasting seven days are reported. The struggle is even fiercer in Bosnia, where the puppet Government's terrorists are subjected to continuous attacks. The latest Croat communique admits the loss of gendarmerie posts, with men, arms, and ammunition, and it also admits that peasants in some villages have rebelled and burned official buildings. SHIPS COLLIDE OFF ATLANTIC CITY (Received January 19, 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON. January 18. The merchantman Santa Elisa and the San Jose (6013 tons) 'collided off Atlantic City. The Santa Elisa caught fire, while the San Jose was sunk. Twenty-nine survivors were picked up.