SIX-POUNDER GUN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 156, 30 December 1944, Page 9

SIX-POUNDER GUN

I BRITISH MOSQUITO

DEATH TO THE U-BOATS • . One of Britain's secret weapons, the ' six-pounder gun carried by Mosqui- ■ toes of R..A.F. Coastal Command, f forced the German Admiralty to change v its U-boat tactics. w A home-coming U-boat, proceeding ■ slowly to base in the calm waters of f Brest one bleak morning a year ago, y was the first to experience, the deadly I accuracy of the gun. For weeks the \ U-boat had been at sea, always fearr ing attack from patrolling R.A.F. planes r/ or from warships, but now it was in k "safe" waters. Then the alarm sound|ed and a Mosquito dived from out of W. the" rising sun. fe A red ball came streaking across the F" sky. and there was a tremendous [j crash as the U-boat was hit by a large y-shell. This first attack killed several R Germans. X ■ Attacks on other U-boats proved to ■'the German Admiralty that waters ■ close to the French coast could no ■^longer be considered safe. Even boom ■"and gun-defended harbours could be ■oenetrated by the speedy and manoeuv■rable Mosquito. ■ The enemy were forced to provide ■[.. escort of surface ships and fighters protect their U-boats leaving or ■,:>ing into the harbour. In spite of flak Vt'Om escort vessels and "umbrellas" of ■fighters, Coastal Command Mosquitoes ■persisted in'their attacks on the U■boats with marked success. Cannon ■shells noled or damaged a number of ■the surface vessels, including two ■tankers,, one desti-oyer, 16 trawlers, and ■five minesweepers. ■4The accuracy of the gun was proved ■|||pi a shell from it shot an enemy

'fighter out of the.sky; The gun is slung beneath the fuselage of the Mos■quito and fires shells in quick succession as the aircraft dives to attack. Since Invasion Day it has been used extensively against U-boats attempting to slink into the Channel. SECRET SQUADRON. The gun was first fitted to three Mosquitoes which became a detachment of a secret experimental squadron. The first attack oh a surface vessel was made on November 4, 1943, on an armed trawler close into the French Biscay coast. The first shells hit the trawler, but the plane lost height and crashed into the sea. , "This was a tragic' beginning," said one of the pilots, Flying Officer Turner, "for both Squadron Leader Rose, the first commanding officer of the detachment, and his navigator, Flight Sergeant Cowley, were lost. Yet the effectiveness of the gun had been proved." In addition to Squadron Leader Rose and Flight Sergeant Cowley, three other pioneers have since lost their lives. Faring Officer Bonnett and his navigator, Flying Officer McNichol, were killed in June when their machine collided over the sea with a Mosquito piloted by Wing Commander Phillips. The wing commander was killed a month later in an attack on shipping near Brest. The first major success was achieved early in 1944. after which Flying Officer Turner and his navigator, Flying Officer D. Curtis, were awarded the D.F.C. A U-boat, escorted by a destroyer and two minesweepers, was caught fully surfaced off the lie de Re, and the Mosquito's, six-pounder gun ' scored numerous hits. A large oil patch was left by the U-boat as it disappeared below the surface. ; . Flying Officer B. C. Roberts, aged 23, of Laverstoke, Whitchurch, Hampshire, was awarded the D.F.C. after a similar attack on, April 11.