LARGE NUMBERS SHOT DOWN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 226, 21 June 1944, Page 5

LARGE NUMBERS SHOT DOWN

Unmilitary Weapon

Of Chance

PILOTLESS PLANE

(British Official Wireless.l RUGBY, June 19. Full details are published tonight of the pilotless aircraft with which the Germans are wildly and indiscriminately attacking southern England, and of counter-measures which Britain has long been taking. The weapon is jet-propelled and rs launched from a ramp, probably with the aid of a take-off rocket. The fuselage is 21ft. lOin. long, with a maximum width of 2ft. Biin., while the overall length of the missile is 26ft. 4jin., and the wing gpan 16ft. The range of the type at present in use is about 150 miles, the speed in level flight is between 300 and 300 miles an hour, and the explosive power is equivalent to a 2200-po.und German bomb. The explosive is carried in a warhead mounted in a thin casing in the front part of the fuselage. The engine is driven by petrol, and the noise heard in flight is due to intermittent explosions within the jet-propulsion unit. Constructed almost entirely of steed, the projectile is coloured with the usual type of German camouflage, dark green on top and light blue underneath. It is not radio-controlled, but is operated by an automatic pilot, which is set before the take-off. Once the missile has been launched, therefore, the enemy has no control over further movements. German Intention.

By their use of this unmilitary weapon of chance the Germans acknowledge that the Luftwaffe is powerless to stem the Allied offensive in Europe or to be a serious 1 menace to the air forces of the United Nations. The attacks were long prepared, and have been launched in an attempt to console the people of the Reich and halt further deterioration of their morale. Moreover, such attacks on a massive scale have been repeatedly promised by their leaders to the population of Germany, which is stricken, by the blows of the Allied air fleets against war industry and transport. , , The pilotless plane attack was planned to take place many months ago in order to. divert the impact of the Allied air forces on German industry and communications and raise the morale of the German people. . Nearly a year ago the German propaganda stated that it would be launched quite soon. Measures were promptly taken to counter this threat. The German experimental station at Peenemunde, for example, was attacked by the R.A.F. Bomber Command last August, <an<i serious damage. find many casualties were inflicted, causing a severe setback to the highly important activities which were being undertaken there. Moreover, factories and plants manufacturing the special weapons, notably the works at ■ Friedrichshafen, were powerfully attacked and damaged. Heavy assaults were also made by the Bomber Command and by United States aircraft on the enemy’s war production centres where various kinds of weapons and component parts were being manufactured.

Serious Delay Imposed. Meanwhile, throughout the past year, thousands of air photographs of northern France, covering many hundreds ot square miles and forming a photographic map, were taken by reconnaissance aircraft The construction of discharge points of .pilotless aircraft was detected and subsequently watched, and attacks on these installations, each consisting ot launching pointa, were begun last December by the R.A.F., United States, Dominion, and Allied air forces, and were continued as the weather and other operational requirements permitted. These attacks were made in addition to the already numerous commitments those forces had undertaken to ensure effective Allied' invasion of Normandy and the subsequent penetration of the Allied armies into the mainland of occupied France. Since the end of the year tens of thousands of tons of bombs have been dropped on launching points, and photographs show that most extensive damage was caused to them, despite the fact that the sites were small and scattered and offered difficult bombing targets. . As a result of this persistent offensive there has been dislocation of the widespread effort the Germans have been making to assail Britain with the new type of missile. A great nundber of camouflaged sites and supply depots of pilotless aircraft were destroyed and damaged, and the enemy’s repair work on them was disrupted by renewed attacks from the air. Thus serious delay was imposed on the enemy, and when, therefore, he eventually launched the attack it was on less than a quarter of the scale he had originally planned. In the meantime, fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft defences have been making many successful attacks on the projectiles in flight in the past few days, and large numbers of them have been shot fi°w n into the sea or in open country. Other offensive measures to frustrate the enemy’s plans are being adopted without detriment to the Allies’ main purpose ot relentless air assault on enemy military targets. The extent and character of these methods cannot be divulged without giving information to the enemy, who is making strenuous attempts both to discover the steps being taken to defeat his latest form of attack and to learn how effective this assault has been.

NEW DEFENCE METHOD GETS RESULTS Report From Observer

LONDON. June 19.

R.A.F. fighters and anti-aircraft gunners, after four days of ceaseless effort, have evolved a new technique to beat the pilotless bomber, says an “Evening Standard” correspondent at a Bofors anti-air-craft gun site. . “From a lonely Bofors gun site in the front line in England last night,” he says. "I saw this new battle being fought and won. I saw gunners and fighters destroying pilotless bombers, Details of this’ new combined battle technique must for the moment remain secret. lhe R.A.F. seems to have found the weak spot of the pilotless bombers.” . The correspondent says it now seems certain that the Germans have established runways for pilotless bombers nearly as far south as Dieppe. This conclusion is reached by estimating their fixed course across the Channel to southern England. „