R.A.F. DAYLIGHT RAIDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1940, Page 7

R.A.F. DAYLIGHT RAIDS

e PORTS AGAIN BOMBED .s ■ • . r j. BARGES AND SHIPS HIT e z . i [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] ' RUGBY, September 17. Daylight raids on Calais, Ostend, Dunkirk, and Veere, were carried out yesterday afternoon by medium . bombers of the R.A.F. At Veere, on the Dutch island of • Walcheren, a concentration of barges I. in the canal lock was bombed from ; a low level. The harbour installations at Dun- : kirk and Ostend were attacked under cover of low clouds, and at Calais a salvo of bombs were seen to burst on ' the quayside of the outer harbour. A convoy of 12 barges and three escort vessels were intercepted and bombed off Zeebrugge. An attack was also made on three self-propelled barges, patrolling off Ostend Harbour, which hove to and opened fire on sighting the R.A.F. aircraft. Haamstede, on the Dutch islarid of Schouven, was raided early this afternoon. Bombs .were dropped on the aerodrome, in high-level attacks. German barge concentrations outside as well as inside the invasion ports were also harassed during a series of daylight raids yesterday. A considerable convoy of enemy shipping off Calais was attacked and a stick of bombs was dropped across the convoy, from starboard to port. Another raider bombed barges tied up in twos and three inside Zeebrugge Harbour, and Zeebrugge itself was attacked. It is believed that a bomb struck the light railway running

along the mole. COASTAL COMMAND’S WORK. RUGBY, September 17. From dawn to-day, reconnaissance aircraft of the Coastal Command were combing the enemy coastline over the entire Channel area, states an Air Ministry bulletin. Searches on a large scale had been organised overnight, to ascertain sudden changes in , the disposition of the German sea forces. These changes were imposed ( on the enemy after a day of harassing ■ bombing action, and in consequence ; of a strong westerly wind which ( swept the Channel throughout the . night.- It blew with gale force at ex- ‘ posed places where the German surface craft had been last sighted. Most ( of the Channel was very rough, and, as expected, the enemy ships and * small craft had scattered, and ' scurried to seek shelter. Their new ' positions were quickly located to-day ' by the Coastal Command. . These operations were supplement- ‘ ary to the routine anti-submarine and } convoy escort patrols, on which 15,000 miles were flown in a few hours, { notwithstanding the general bad weather. • . i

To-day, Coastal Command aircraft gave an escort to many large convoys of merchant vessels, and there was not a single enemy attempt at molestation by air or sea. OVERSEAS PILOTS. N.Z.’ERS OVER GERMANY LONDON, September 16. The Dominions were strongly represented in the flights over Germany. One of the angriest men in the Royal Air Force is a New Zealand wing commander, who was within five minutes’ flying distance of his main target in Berlin when one of his engines froze. “I had to let go my bombs on an alternative objective,” he said, “and flew up out of the soup on one I engine. After about 10 minutes the! other engine picked up again and we headed for home. I have never had such a pasting as I got over Bremen on the way back. The tailplane was riddled.” A piece of shrapnel came into the cockpit and tore fur from the pilot’s, collar, hit the armour plating behind his seat, tore some fur from the observer’s flying suit, and then landed on the navigator’s table. The second pilot, also a New Zealander, was in the front of the machine and a piece of metal came through the glass at one side, whizzed past his nose, and went out the other side.

A pilot from Ottawa also told of a 7000-foot dive near the mouth of the Elbe with the controls frozen. “I was in the front turret at the ' time, testing the gun and looking out to see what kind of a landfall we were making. Suddenly I realised from the rush of wind that we were in a dive and spinning slightly. I scrambled back to the cockpit. I found the ond pilot trying his hardest to get the' machine back on a level keel. I got alongside him and helped to pull, and at about 7000 feet the aircraft came out, but not before the fabric had been stripped off the ailerons and part of the main plane. I dropped my bombs into the sea and came back 300 miles or so to my base.” Another New Zealander was over Berlin searching for his target when one of his engines stopped. They continued the search for 10 minutes and found the Templehof aerodrome. They dropped their bombs on it and turned for home. HOW N.Z.ER’S WON CROSSES. ' (Recd. Sept. 17, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, September 17. Flying Officer Brian George Carbury, of Wellington, and Pilot Officer Michael James Herrick, of Hastings, have been awarded the D.F.C. The citations state that Carbury led his section against two planes operating on the north-east coast, destroying both. He almost continually engaged eight planes, whereof five were brought down in three successive engagements on one day. Herrick,. during an interception patrol on September 4, destroyed two planes,' succeeding in closing up within 30 yards of the second, which fell to pieces under his fire.

THRILLING ADVENTURES. RUGBY, September 17. A New Zealand flight commander, who is credited with shooting down twelve and one-thirtieth German machines —the fraction being due to the share to be taken in three actions, with other pilots, in bringing down single enemy aeroplanes—has had an adventurous time in reaching this score. He has been shot down four or five times, and has baled out three times. One day in July, he made a head-on attack on a Messerschmitt 109. Neither he nor the enemy would give way, and they collided. The Messerschmitt’s air-screw struck the upper part of the British pilot’s cock-

pit, and his hood jammed down. The machine caught fire, but he landed in a field. . He found that/his hood would not open, so he had to smash his way out as the flames entered the cockpit. He was awarded the D.F.C. for his share in escorting a Miles Master training aircraft across the Channel to Calais, to rescue his squadronleader. He and another pilot, in Spitfires, were attacked by" 12 Messerschmitts. Both pilots destroyed one each, and shared in the destruction of a third, and probably a fourth. The Miles Master was undamaged. He had a very narrow escape recently, when he had just taken off with another pilot. As they left the ground, a bomb came crashing near them. The port window of his aircraft was torn off. He and the machine were hurdled into the next field, landing upside down, scatting along for 100 yards, before coming to rest. -He was rescued by the other pilot. POLES CONGRATULATED. RUGBY, September 17. Sir A. Sinclair has sent the following message to General Sikorski: — “Please convey my congratulations to Nos. 302 and 303 squadrons, on their magnificent and outstandings success in yesterday’s fighting, also to those of your airmen who took part so splendidly in the attack on Calais.” U.S.A. BOMBERS TRANSFER? NEW YORK, September 17. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says the isolationists, Senators Clark and Holt, allege that Mr Roosevelt is negotiating for the transfer of half of the United States’s 59 “flying fortress” bombers to Britain, in addition to torpedo-boats and bomb sights. The British Ambassador (the Mar? : quess of Lothian) commented: “I wish it were true.”