DAYLIGHT PASTING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 10 February 1944, Page 5

DAYLIGHT PASTING

TARGETS IN EUROPE ALL TYI»ES OF BATTLE PLANES LITTLE FIGHTER OPPOSITION London, Feb. 8. All types of battle planes were thrown into the daylight offensive to-day which began soon after daybreak and was continued throughout the day without pause, stretching from thc coast across thc Channel and deep into the Reich.

It is officially announced that from all operations 12 heavy bombers and one medium bomber, one light bomber, two fighter-bombers and nine fighters arc missing. Twenty-one enemy fighters were destroyed.

Allied air fleets struck first against Frankfurt, which Flying Fortresses, escorted by long-range fighters, saturated for the third time in ten days, and secondly against Pas de Calais which was blasted by American Liberators and Marauders, R.A.F., Dominion and Allied Bostons. Mitchells, Mosquitoes, Typhoons and Hurricanes. Great fighter formations screened the cross-Chan-nel bomber forces which carried out at least nine assaults on Pas de Calais alone throughout the day, including a single attack by 200 Marauders. British and American planes filled the Channel sky all day. The shuttle at one time was incessant for two hours. Pilots described the armadas as a massive pattern curtain across the sky. The Germans again conserved their fighters and put up little opposition over Pas de Calais, but guns were massed in considerable strength along the coast.

UNUSUAL ATTACK Fortresses going to Frankfurt encountered an unusual attack when 15 Fw’s flying in close formation waggled their wingtips indicating friendly planes. The Fortress pilots momentarily relaxed, whereupon the Fw’s roared in four abreast and poured in bullets for a full minute. One pilot said he feared the sudden attack knocked out some of the Fortresses.

The Air Ministry states: “Last night aircraft of the Bomber Command attacked objectives in Germany and France, including the Gnoine-Rome aero engine factory at Limoges. One of our aircraft on intruder patrol destroyed a six-engined enemy flying-boat over a base on the west coast cf France. Not one of our aircraft is missing. “The flying-boat was shot down over Biscarrosse, near Bordeaux, by an R.A.F. Mosquito fighter.”