GIANT BOMBERS IN ACTION

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 258, 28 July 1941, Page 8

GIANT BOMBERS IN ACTION

Experts’ Achievement ATTACK ON GERMAN BATTLE-CRUISERS (British Official Wireless.) (Received July 27, 7.30 p.m.) RUGBY, July 20. “Force your way in and fight your way out” was the message given by the squadron leader to his men before Thursday's double attack on the German battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. This message epitomizes the biggest daylight attack yet made by the Royal Air Force. Seven direct hits with heavy,armour-piercing bombs crippled Gneisenau. Scharnhorst , was also hit and immense damage was done to the shipyards at Brest. British bombers, flying much farther from their base than the Germans which attacked London and the south of England lust autumn, had to attack, with precision bombing, heavily-armour-ed warships protected by six-inch armour plating on deck and each with 30 anti-aircraft guns of her own. One of the battle-cruisers was lying in the most heavily-defended base in occupied France. Both ships were ringed with squadrons of Messerschmitts. The operation was also a triumph of organization. Each wave of heavy bombers had to use tactics appropriate to their type aud each had to come In to the minute. Our escorting fighters, states the Air Ministry news service, met at the exact moment of appointment and attacks 100 miles apart were absolutely punctual. So, too, was the arrival of successive formations over each single target. Height, method of attack, direction of entry and weight, selection and spacing of bombs, all had to be worked out and each instruction was obeyed to the letter. Such a battle is fought on’y after hours of intensive preparation, but also after jears of research. . ■ , The arrival of American “flying fortress” bombers at a height of 30,000 feet over Brest, a greater height than any reached before on an operational flight, was an achievement of experts in half-tr-dozeii sciences. At this level all the problems of high-altitude flying become acute. The difficulties of bomb aiming may be imagined when it is realized that even at 20,000 feet with a bomber travelling at a normal speed the bdmb has to 'be released two miles and a half in advance of the target. Above all, the human frame is subjected to extraordinary stra'jn from the cold and from rarified air. Picked Men for Crews. The crews who flew the fortresses to Brest were all picked men. The medical officer of the aerodrome from which the squadron took off had himself flown in fortresses to get first-hand information of the probable reaction of the crews. More than 80 per cent, of people, he said, were unable to fly at that height. The crew of the Halifax which got a direct hit on Scharnhorst moored at La Pallice, saw a pillar of black smoke rise 1000 feet from the deck. But they, like the crews of all the other Hallfaxes, had to meet intense opposition, and they drove off two Messerschmitts which made a fierce attack. The rear gunner of one Halifax was wounded by a Messerschmitt bullet. The wireless operator crawled to the tail of the turret and took the gunner's place. He had just sat down in the turret when another Messerschmitt attacked dead astern. The wireless operator shot so well that the enemy dived down vertically and was lost to sight. In another Halifax both the wireless operator and the engineer were wounded by the enemy’s guns. Though the engineer was severely wounded in the head and shoulder he directed the crew in work be had not the strength to do himself, and when the Halifax landed he refused to leave it till the normal landing drill had been completed. The attack by a strong force of Blenheim bombers on the harbour at Cherbourg must be regarded as an important part of the day’s work.- In the course of the attack, made against very heavy anti-aircraft fire, an important whale oil ship was hit and set on fire.