GOOD AIMING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 3, 3 July 1941, Page 14

GOOD AIMING

£ND BOLD'ATTACKS

ENEMY SUFFER

ATTACKS ON CONVOYS

LONDON, May 28,

Bombs dropped by Sergeant Observer lan Overheu, D.F.M., have scored direct hits on a 7000-ton ship in a German convoy and also on a German destroyer. Sergeant Overheu, who is an Australian by birth and comes from Perth, spent ten years in the Waikatb district before joining the R.N.Z.A.F. Since he arrived in England last September he has carried out 16 night raids and 20 day raids in Blenheim aircraft. The D.F.M. was awarded to him after a raid last April against a large enemy convoy. "We set out originally to bomb a special target on a German island," said Sergeant Overheu. "There were nine of us—three flights of three —and our plane was detailed to stay behind to take photographs of the results of the bombing. "As we neared our target our formation leader waggled his wings as a signal to us that he was going to turn. He had sighted a big convoy and had decided to attack it. We were flying at 'nought' feet—that is anything between 10 and 20 feet—and making about 250 miles an hour. As we turned we could see the convoy escorted by a numßer of destroyers and flak ships. "At another sign from our leader we went in to attack from three different points. My pilot selected a big ship, about 7000 tons, and we followed another plane in. A bomb from the front plane hit the ship, and debris was still coming up as we approached. I let two bombs go, and I heard the gunner yell with excitement. The bombs hit the ship all right, and I got a good photo of a gun crew having a shot at us as we banked. POM-POM BURST IN TAIlt. "Our flight hit about three ships in the attack, and as we flew low between the two lines of the convoy—so that the Germans risked Hitting each other if they fired at us—we could see them heeling over. We had a bit of an escape ourselves, for, as we passed over the ship we attacked/a pom-pom shell burst in our tail unit. We almost dived into the sea, but the pilot managed to pull us out in time. "As we had dropped our bombs we had nothing left for the target on the island and we had to return. On the way back our gunner was talking over the inter-corn about a plane in front of us. He said a little while later: 'You ought to see the tail.' We thought he was still talking about the other plane; actually he was referring to our own. "When we got back to the station we were all still so excited that the pilot did a bit of a shoot up. When we got down we found it was our own tail that the gunner had been talking about and that there were only about two strands of wire left on the aileron! That shook us more than anything else in the whole flight." DESTROYER TAKEN BY SURPRISE. On the flight during which the destroyer was hit, the Blenheim was flying by itself. "We had nearly finished our patrol when the pilot sighted a long patch of smoke and decided to check up," said Sergeant Overheu. "Jt was a convoy all right, sailing close in to the German coast and about to enter a port. We flew up through the smoke at 'nought' feet and saw two destroyers and 13 ships. "The pilot selected the rear destroyer and we went tearing over the water to it. We watched the sea flashing by below us and it seemed that we were miles away from the convoy and that they would open fire on us before we arrived. But the Germans were surprised by the attack. We could see several sailors leaning over the rails. "I dropped the bombs from close in and I knew they couldn't miss. We had to climb suddenly to dodge the mast, on which a swastika was fluttering, and then we banked and machinegunned the decks. I had a look through the rear window and I could see sailors falling all over the deck and others making for shelter. The destroyer listed heavily to port and swung round almost in its own length. They started to send up tracer bullets at us, and we left shortly afterwards. INTER-COMMUNICATION LOST. "One of the most exciting trips I had was our second raid. We were to attack Hamburg, at night. It was in the middle of winter; and pretty cold. We were well muffled up, and the moon was clear. Just as we crossed^ the Dutch coast a faulty lead put our lights and inter-corn out of order. This meant.we couldn't see anything inside the plane and couldn't talk to one another. "The pilot decided that the plane was more valuable than the bombs, and so we turned back. I had to write the navigational instructions on paper, and shine my torch so that he could read them. After a while we worked out a deaf and dumb code. Shaking hands meant 'yes,' holding hands mean 'no,' and so on.

"It gave us a laugh to find ourselves pantomiming like this, but it was the only thing to do, and we were pretty glad to get down again."

Recently Sergeant Overheu completed a special mission to the Near East in a Blenheim, and it was while he was on the mission that he learned that he had been awarded the D.F.M.