HIT BY TORPEDO

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20477, 11 February 1941, Page 5

HIT BY TORPEDO

GERMAN DESTROYER R.A.F. BOMBERS' SUCCESS ATTACKS IN LOWLANDS TARGETS IN GERMANY (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 10.30 a.m. RUGBY, Feb. 10. In daylight operations by the Royal Air Force yesterday, an enemy destroyer was torpedoed off the coast of Norway. The oil tanks at Flushing were bombed during Saturday night’s attacks by aircraft of the Bomber Command, which were carried out in unfavourable weather on industrial targets at Mannheim. Single aircraft of the same command on Saturday bombed objectives at Rotterdam and Flushing. An aircraft of the Coastal Command on patrol attacked enemy ships escorted by destroyers off the coast of southern Norway. From all operations one British aircraft is missing. Messerschmitt Driven Off The pilot of one of the Coastal Command Beaufort bombers, who saw his bombs explode among ships of a German convoy which was hugging the coast of southern Norway, reported shortly afterwards that a Messerschmitt 110 attacked the Beaufort with both machine-guns and cannon. It was quickly driven off, but not before the Beaufort was damaged and the wireless operator fatally wounded. For the return journey across the North Sea the rear gunner took over the radio and carried on with the signals to the base. The navigator went into the rear turret. In this cramped space with his charts on his knees he worked out the courses and gave them to the pilot over the inter-con’imunica-tion telephone. At the end of the flight, the Beaufort made a perfect landing.

It is learned in London that two Royal Air Force formations of bombers, accompanied by a strong force of fighters, carried out an offensive sweep over Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne today. Bombs were dropped on the docks at Dunkirk. According to a report two enemy fighters were destroyed by one of the British squadrons.