NAZI BOMBERS DOWNED

Evening Star, Issue 23492, 5 February 1940, Page 7

NAZI BOMBERS DOWNED

Attacks on Coastal Shipping WARM RECEPTION FOR RAIDERS Two Crash, Others Crippled Press Association—By Telegraph—Coypright LONDON, February 3. The Eoyal Air Force inflicted swift punishment on German bombers which raided various points on the east and north; east coast of England to-day, shooting down two and very seriously damaging a third, which is believed to have crashed in the sea. A fourth was sent scurrying homeward, and a fifth was so damaged that it probably did not reach Germany. It was last seen losing height and speed, belching smoke and with one wing tilted. The gunner bad been silenced and the pilot was believed to have been hit. One bomber - was shot down off the Tyne at 11 a.m. by a Eoyal Air Force fighter command. A patrol ship went to the rescue of the crew. Two were dead and two were taken to hospital. The other bomber crashed a few miles from a Yorkshire town after an encounter with three British fighters. This is the first enemy plane to crash on English soil since the outbreak of war. A previous crash occurred in Scotland. Correspondents say that the Heinkel which came down in flames on the Yorkshire moors narrowly missed the chimney of a cottage. The crew were extricated and four were dead and one injured. People earlier heard firing at sea and then saw a Heinkel cross ' the coastline endeavouring to escape inland. There was a series of savage Nazi attacks on shipping off the east coast. A Heinkel, darting from the mist, machine-gunned the decks of a big steamer and then quickly retreated to the. olouds. Another plane, reported to be almost indistinguishable from the sea, machine-gunned a small vessel lying close to the Norfolk coast and then raked a lightship with its fore and aft guns. A British bomber quickly appeared, circled the vessel and then went in pursuit of the Nazis. Another message states that two ’German planes were seen machine-gunning a trawler off the Yorkshire coast at 9.30 a.m. Three British planes went in hot pursuit' and one enemy plane was brought down later. The occupant of a seafront hotel states that be saw smoke from a vessel apparently on fire three miles off the coast. An official wireless message states that a third engagement took place on the Northumberland coast a few minutes before' that off the Yorkshire coast. In this case another fighter patrol attacked two Heinkels. which were dropping bombs on merchant ships near the Fame Islands. The bombers, without returning fire, raced for home, climbing steeply into the shelter of olouds, but the Hurricanes had already poured machine-gun bullets into one of the raiders, which disappeared with one engine out of action. A fighter pilot, describing the action, said: “ As the enemy aircraft escaped I saw heavy black smoke and bits of metal coming from the starboard engine.” - An official Befrlin-nfews agency,.-referring to last week’s raids, admits that British fighters and intense fire from armed vessels hindered the German plans, and adds that the Air Force sank five ships between the Humber and the Thames, and three off the Orkneys on January 29 and 30. r .The German High Command admitted that three planes failed to return from to-day’s raids, and it adds that reconnaissance planes over the North Sea sank a minesweeper, four patrol ships, and nine merchantmen in a convoy, and seriously damaged many other armed merchantmen. The British Admiralty did not comment on the foregoing claims. The Tempo (Norwegian, 629 tons) was bombed and sunk. One lifeboat reached the north-east coast and capsized in the surf. Police waded neck high to rescue the Norwegian sailors who were being pounded on the rocks. One was dead and one was in a critical condition. Eight survivors, including the captain, were rescued by lifeboats. They said the ship was bombed at 9 a.m., and that the crew were machine-gunned as they took to the boats. A Coastal Command plane, escorting a convoy, guided a fishing smack to the rescue of nine men- drifting in a lifeboat in a heavy sea.