GREAT RAID ON REICH

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 270, 13 August 1942, Page 6

GREAT RAID ON REICH

Successful Night Bombing TRANSPORT POINT LONDON, August 12. Preliminary information of operations by the Bomber Command last night show that a strong force attacked an important transport centre in Germany. Sixteen of our bombers are missing. The raid is officially stated to have been very successful. MANY INCENDIARIES Nazi Attempt To Burn British Harvest LONDON, August 11. During last night’s enemy raids many incendiaries were showered on cornfields in East Anglia, in an organized attempt to set fire to the harvest. Watchers buried many of the incendiaries before they caused destruction. A mental hospital in East Anglia was hit several times. Two wards occupied by aged patients were destroyed, and a number of patients and members of the staff were killed. Several were seriously injured and others are missing. Twelve bodies were recovered. , , , Two aged women, buried under three tons of debris, were rescued alive after six hours. Berlin radio announced that the Luftwaffe last night bombed Colchester and Hastings. A news agency report says that a small number of German raiders were over East Anglia and south-east England last night

LANCASTER BOMBERS Can Carry Heaviest Bombs To Enemy (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 11. The latest British heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster, with a maximum range of about 3000 miles, can carry the heaviest bombs to the furthermost parts of enemy territory., Its maximum bomb-load is about eight tons. Lancasters have been used in the Essen, Dusseldorf, Augsburg, Danzig, Flensburg, and other raids. The flight to Danzig, involving a round journey of more than 1700 miles, is the longest trip yet made by the Bomber Command. The Lancaster is a development of the two-engined Manchester, and was built in record time. Its success was assured from the first trial flights, and the staff of the two large factories where the. Lancasters are made . are justly proud. Its design lends itself to relatively cheap production. The entire aeroplane is built up on component parts, which are manufactured largely as separate self-contained units, easily moved and assembled. There is used in its production, for instance, a 6000-ton hydraulic press which was purchased four years ago from a wallpaper firm. Tills is now responsible for producing 40,000 components weekly. The Lancaster’s wing-span is 102 feet, the length of the plane is 69 feet 4 inches, and its height is .20 feet. The bomb-load is carried inside the fuselage, in a compartment operated with two large doors, worked hydraulically. A special electric circuit ensures that the bombs cannot be released till the bomb doors are open. In case of failure of the hydraulic system the bomb doors can be operated by an emergency air system, as can also the undercarriage. The armament is 10 Browning guns of .303 calibre, installed in fot.r turrets, one in the nose, one above, and one below the middle of the fuselage, and the fourth in the tail. A crew of seven can be carried.

KILLED OVER FRANCE Noted German Air Ace

(Received August 12,10.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 11.

The German High Command has announced that Major Pflanz was shot down and killed in combat with R.A.F. fighters over France on July 31. He had the previous day scored his 51st success.

The British Air Ministry news service recalls that on July 31 Spitfires escorted Bostons to bomb the German fighter base at Abbeville. Hectic dogfights occurred between 100 K.A.F. and German fighters- over the Somme area. Eleven Germans were _ destroyed for the loss of eight British and Pflanz was killed in one of these fights.