IN BRITISH FAVOUR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 24 March 1941, Page 7

IN BRITISH FAVOUR.

BALANCE Ol' 1 LOSSES

R.A.F.'S WIDE RANGE.

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. March 22. During the week ending at midnight last night 22 German aircraft were destroyed over or around Britain. In the same period the British lost three planes, with two pilots saved. On all Middle East fronts in the same period the Italians lost 20 plancs. ( The British lost six with one pilot saved.

An Air Ministry communique states that on Friday night, for the second night in succession, Bomber Command aircraft attacked the enemy submarine base at Lorient. The attack lasted several hours. Though it was cloudy, many high-explosive bombs were aimed through gaps in the clouds. They were seen to burst in various parts of the harbour, on the west dock and on the west bank of the river, where two violent explosions were observed. Other aircraft of the same command attacked the docks at Ostend. From these operations two of our aircraft are missing. Near Lorient a British bomber was followed by a German fighter, probably a Messerschmitt 1.09, which flew steadily along below it, says the Air Ministry News Service. The rear-gun-ner watched the Messerschmitt gradually get closer. He was expecting the enemy to attack at any moment, but hoped to get him within close range. The enemy must also have been hoping to make certain of the British bomber, for the pursuit went on, the Messerschmitt gradually gaining. Then our rear-gunner struck. He fired one long burst. The Messerschmitt wobbled and went into a spinning dive. A momement later a red glow shone through the thin and filmy cloud at tlio point where the enemy had dropped. Aircraft of the Bomber Command bombed a tanker escorted by warships oft the Belgian coast. Other aircraft also attacked enemy warships and suppiy vessels off the Frisian Islands and in~ Heligoland Bight. Aircraft of the Coastal Command also engaged in the usual operations against the enemy. In the course of these, supply ships were attacked off Norway. A jetty at Egorsund was bombed and coastal motor-boats and' an aerodrome building in Norway were machine-gunned. The Air Ministry News Service states that co-operation between a wing-com-mander and a squadron-leader of a Coastal Command Blenheim squadron resulted in the sinking of an enemy supply ship of 2000 to 3000 tons, which was sighted near Egersund by the squadron-leader. To his regret he was unable to do more than machine-gun it because just previously he had dropped all his bombs on other targets. The wing-commander decided to make a follow-up raid himself. He took off during the night and reached Egersund at dawn. The ship was still there. With precise calculation the observer released four bombs. Two made direct hits amidships and the others burst close to the hull. Fire and smoke, belched from the vessel and within a few seconds the forehold was a mass of flames. The ship is regarded as a total loss. VERTICAL DIVE. * A vertical "hell dive" toward an enemy aerodrome was the high spot of a busy half-hour spent by a Coastal Command Blenheim aircraft off Norway yesterday. The Blenheim pilot, a squadron leader, said : "As we' whistled out of the cloud I was looking straight down on an aerodrome. The aircraft was standing on its nose and my front gun tracers were hitting the buildings at right-angles. I pulled out with no more than 50ft to spare. It was low enough to be uncomfortable." This aircraft first struck the Not wegian coast at Egersund, where the creiv attacked the jetty and shipping with a stick of] bombs. Later it found more shipping in a fiord, this time of the coastal motor-boat type. Again the vessels were sprayed with machineguns in the face of anti-aircraft firo. The dive on the aerodrome was the airman's final piece of exurberance before returning to his base. Another Blenheim of the same squadron bombed a convoy of enemy supply ships near the Norwegian coast, when bombs were dropped near enough to damage the leading ship severely. One of the Boyal Air Force's leading fighter pilots, baling out at, 17,000 ft after destroying a Heinkel which damaged his machine, dropped more than two miles before bo pulled the rip cord. He purposely delayed opening the parachute to see what it felt like This pilot already has been credited with 23 confirmed and 10 unconfirmed victories and has won the D.F.M. and bar. He was the man who shot down the Heinkel which bombed Buckingham Palace last year.

"I was just going to pull the ripford when I thought 1 would see what it felt like falling through space," he said. "I found myself in n diving position with my head down and quite enjoyed it. At 5000 ft, bavins fallen from 17,000 ft, T thought it was time to pull up,' so 1 reached for the vipcord. The movement of my arm set me spinning like a top, but T got out of the spin and landed without a bruise."