VALUE OF MOSQUITOES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 20, 21 December 1944, Page 5

VALUE OF MOSQUITOES

NIGHT STRIKING FORCE. (Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 11.10 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 20. "It is the best job in the Bomber Command," said a pilot from Christchurch" wno is nymg a Mosquito Mark 16 in a squadron attached to the light night striking force. These latest Mosquitoes are equipped with pressure cabins and operate at 30,000 feet. They carry a 40001 b bomb-load and so far have dropped a total of 12,000 tons of bombs on Germany including 2200 tons on Berlin.

Flying at 30,000 feet is very exhausting for the crew —a pilot and a navigator—so an air-pressure cabin was introduced to reproduce conditions of flying at about 5000 or 6000 feet less than the actual height. Tho pressure is increased by about two pounds a square inch above the outside pressure. •■■■:''

Several New Zealanders whose names cannot be mentioned for reasons of security are flying in squadrons of the light night striking force. It is composed entirely of Mosquitoes which have proved themselves one of the most valuable aircraft of the war.

The squadrons have varied duties. They drop marker flares for heavy bombers, help to confuse German defences by decoying enemy nightfighters away from the main bomber stream, and' drop bombs. They have been used to attack as many as 12 different targets in one night. Their use as decoys has helped to decrease the rate of "loss of heavy bombers, which has never been lower in the war than at present. The Mosquitoes' speed, wjiich is stated to be over 400 miles an hour, allows them to perform duties which would be impossible for heavier aircraft and in addition to precision bombing they carry out many "nuisance" raids to keep the German defences in a state of confusion.