Engaged 37 Planes In 40 Sorties; Downed 6

Northern Advocate, 10 May 1940, Page 6

Engaged 37 Planes In 40 Sorties; Downed 6

In One Day, This Squadron:

(Received 2.30 p.m.) RUGBY, May 9. One of the most stirring incidents of the war concerns the experiences of a photo squadron which, during recent operations late at night, after flights in a blinding snowstorm from an aircraft carrier, landed on an improvised landing ground on the frozen lake of Lesjeskogen, 40 miles south east of Andalsnes.

Snow had to be cut away for a runway. but all the pilots made a safe landing and in a little over an hour were refuelled and dispersed around the lake, except for the section in immediate readiness.

It was necessary for some aircraft to take off at once to intercept two aircraft with Norwegian markings, but which were probably flown by German pilots. * Hard To Get Off Again In any case, the enemy were soon aware of our dispositions and a patrol of the lake began at 3 o’clock the next morning. The difficulty of getting aircraft into the air was intense owing to the bitter cold. Shortly after 4 a.m. three of our aircraft engaged a Ileinkel and shot it down. Two other Heinkels were intercepted. The frozen lake was attacked soon afterwards by another Heinkel with bombs and machine-gun fire. At 7.30 a.m. the enemy began attacks which continued all day until 8 p.m. Crawled Through Snow Except on the runway, melting snow in drifts several feet deep made it almost impossible to move, and British pilots had to crawl through the snow on their hands and knees.

Their drenched clothing immediately froze. Throughout incessant attacks, the pilots remained in the open, without cover and without thought of seeking any. » As they came down from their combats with the enemy they refuelled and replenished their ammunition, and tried to start up again. , Planes Destroyed One by One. As one by one the aircraft were destroyecTon the ground, the pilots, some badly burned, helped one another to get the remaining aircraft into the air, all the time being machine-gunned. When they could no longer fly, they fought back from the ground

with machine-guns. Towards the end of the day, the ammunition was exhausted, and the pilots made attacks which were feints, without a chance of returning the enemy’s fire. One, with no ammunition and practically no petrol, was attacked by three of the most heavily-armed German fighters. /

He saved his aircraft from being shot down by repeatedly attempting to collide, until the enemy swerved away. * Struck Again and Again.

Their cannonfire struck his aircraft again and again. He successfully made a forced landing.

It was set on fire as he left it. On this day 40 sorties were carried out, and 37 enemy aircraft were engaged. The landing field * was bombed and machine-gunned by 80 and 90 enemy bombers and. 132 craters were counted. Six Enemy Planes Down

By the end of the day only five of the 18 Gladiators were serviceable, but six enemy aircraft, for certain, and probably eight more were brought down on the surrounding mountains.

At the end of the next day, of the remaining R.A.F. aircraft, only one aircraft was serviceable.

Owing to the evacuation of Southern Norway, it was not possible to repair these damaged aircraft. When the pilots re-embarked, their ship was bombed for six hours without interruption, but all attacks failed.