DARING RAID ON ENEMY CONVOY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 263, 2 August 1941, Page 9

DARING RAID ON ENEMY CONVOY

In Heligoland Bight

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, July 31.

Flying between masts and within a few feet of the muzzles of anti-aircraft guns, Blenheim aircraft of the Bomber Command yesterday afternoon attacked several enemy ships in the Heligoland Bight. Many enemy fighters were on patrol. In spite of them and stiff anti-aircraft fire from escort vessels, the pilots almost scraped the decks of ship after ship in a heavily guarded convoy. One Blenheim came home with a ship’s, aerial entangled round its tail wheel. The wire now hangs as a trophy in the sergeants’ mess. Another Blenheim, ignoring the menace of guns at point-blank range, was hit in one of its petrol tanks. The tank caught fire, but the crew quickly mastered the flames and after a successful attack came safely home. In the attack on a convoy of six ships, a direct hit on a 1500-ton merchant ship sent her heeling to port and she was left sinking. A ship of 1200 tons in the same convoy was hit

aft of the funnel and blown up. The captain of the Blenheim which scored this success said that his formation had to fly through thick cloud and a North Sea squall before the clouds dispersed into thin stratus over the convoy. “I watched my wing commander,” ho said, “going in to attack another 1500ton ship. I saw the ship blow up in a wild explosion of debris, flame, steam and smoke. We continued on a zigzag course till we sighted another convoy heading north-east to cut off the Bight. I decided to pick off the last ship in the convoy, and flew over its mast and bombed it from 30 feet.”

A 500-ton ship was attacked by two bombers, and one of them got a direct hit amidships. There was so much smoke from the explosion that the crew of the second bomber could not distinguish the results of their own attack. The ship was left well alight.

An Air Ministry communique states that seven of our aircraft are missing from these daylight operations. Aircraft of the Fighter Command, in the course of several offensive operations over the Channel and the coast of France today, destroyed two enemy fighters. Two British planes are missing, but one pilot is safe.