BY COASTAL COMMAND BOMBER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 25 October 1940, Page 5

BY COASTAL COMMAND BOMBER

ANOTHER ENEMY CONVOY MACHINE-GUNNED BOMBERS AGAIN OVER BERLIN AREA [British Official Wireless] (Received 25th October, 10.45 a.m.) RUGBY, 24th October. A Beaufort airert-ft of the Coastal Command yesterday torpedoed two German supply ships in a convoy or the Frisian Islands. The Beaufort came down out of the sun and was almost invisible to the lookout men aboard the German vessels. There were great explosions as the torpedoes struck the ships. The Beaufort’s pilot, under heavy anti-aircraft fire from the rest of the convoy and escort vessels, saw a ship of 4000 tons sinking by the stern, and another ot 2000 tons was going down so fast that her decks were already awash.

Another German convoy was attacked off Trondheim, this time by a Lockheed Hudson of the Coastal Command. The Hudson pilot could just discern the outlines of three ships in the gathering darkness. He dived over them and machine-gunned them until only 100 feet above their decks. He and the gunners put 4000 rounds into the ships before resuming their patrol.

Further activities by British aircraft are described in an Air Ministry communique which states: “Last night our bombers attacked objectives in the Berlin area, causing fires and explosions. Other forces of aircraft carried out concentrated raids on railways, wharves and warehouses at the port of Emden. Our bombers also attacked a number of other targets in Germany and enemy-occupied territory, including oil plants at Madgeburg and Hanover, goods-yards east of Berlin, near Hanover and at Frankfurt, various industrial targets and railway junctions ir: northern and Western Germany, docks at the Hook of Holland, and several enemy aerodromes. One of our aircraft is missing.”