DESPERATE MEASURES

Evening Star, Issue 25171, 10 May 1944, Page 3

DESPERATE MEASURES

HUN FIGHTERS RAM BOMBERS " COLLISIONS ALL OVER THE SKY " RUGBY. May 8. A dramatic story of fighters and bomibers " colliding all over the sky " was told by officers who took part in to-day's raid on Berlin and Brunswick. One navigator said: "About 12 fighters slammed into us. A few minutes later about 35 ME 109's and FW 190's hit us again in head-on attacks. I saw seven of them go through one part of the formation. Only threo came out. I saw one Messerschmitt crash into a Fortress and both ships blew up. Small pieces of metal rained down through the sky. We are reporting seven Nazis shot down."

A pilot said: "There were fighters and Fortresses colliding all over the sky. My ship flew through the wreckage of a couple. One Focke-Wulf came in so close to us that J thought he was out of control and going to ram us. I nosed down and he did, too. Then he nosed up at the same time as L did. i don't know how we missed each other."

A bomb-aimer and navigator said: " About 20 Mti 109's made three passes at us, coming right through our squadron, head-on. 1 had one smoking when my guns jammed." Another pilot reported seeing more enemy fighters than he had ever seen before, and another said he saw more dogfights to-day than in any of his other 21 missions. One group of Mustangs engaged in a furious battle over miles of sky against an estimated force of 150 enemy interceptors. The crews claimed the destruction of 27. and declared that they could have knocked down more, but they ran out of ammunition. Members of another Mustang group destroyed seven when 75 enemy fighters attacked their bombers. Lightnings elsewhere knocked down six of 40, and Thunderbolts destroyed an additional number