"DEAD EASY" TARGET

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 128, 2 June 1942, Page 5

"DEAD EASY" TARGET

RAIDERS OVERWHELM DEFENCE

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, June 1. J The consensus of opinion of the captains and crews of the Manchesters and'*Lancasters that took off from one R.A.F. station was that the raid on Cologne was "dead easy." It was evident that the German defence had either been overwhelmed or bombed and machinegunned out of existence. v The crews were full of praise for the ground staff, which had toiled to ensure that the bombers should get away. The bombers which took off from this station unloaded a large number of tons of high-explosive bombs and all returned. One pilot, a New Zealander, said: "Looking on Cologne from 15,000 feet was like looking on Lubeck from 3000 feet." He added: "The greatest danger was when we got home, as there were so many kites milling around waiting to get down." SHOT AT SEARCHLIGHTS. ■' One 22-year-old squadron leader, after unloading his bombs, came down to 50 feet to have a crack at the searchlights. His bomber was badly peppered with light flak, being hit on both wings, the tail and the fuselage, and one of the engines. : A pilot officer who was also in the raid on Augsburg said: "We were blinded by the reflection of the flames on the glass in the nose of our craft. We were one of the few machines picked up by searchlights. A cone of at least 30 caught us, but we soon dodged them." Few German fighters were seen. The pilot of one raider saw an MelO9, but it turned away. The pilot said the .raiders were so numerous that planes were frequently caught in the slipstream of other planes.—B.O.W. ■-