GREAT AIR ARMADA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25589, 17 July 1944, Page 4

GREAT AIR ARMADA

COVER FOR INVASION FORCES CONTRAST WITH DUNKIRK “ You all have your wish at last—the second front has opened,” writes Wing Commander Alan Deere, D. 5.0., D.F.C. and bar, the distinguished New Zealand air ace, in a letter to his parents, Mr and Mrs J. T. Deere, of Wanganui. “It is a thrilling sight to stand on this advance base on the south coast and watch the continuous stream of all types of Allied aircraft flying south towards the beach-head. “ The most wonderful sight of all,” says Wing Commander Deere, “ was to see the great air armada carrying Allied airborne divisions. One formation was 50 miles -long and consisted of some of the biggest and best tugs and gliders the Allies possessed. The sea was just crammed with boats, from battleships with 15-inch guns down to high-speed launches. The beaches in Normandy were blackened with Allied soldiers moving up to the beach-head, while the coast for miles was dotted with fires from the air assault and the effective naval shelling. “What a contrast to that day four years ago, when I patrolled the Dunkirk beaches and saw a beaten army in retreat, with the German Air Force dominating the skies, and the burning oil tanks of Dunkirk town a tribute to their mastery. So far, very few of the Luftwaffe have appeared, and those that have were accorded such a hot reception and were so ineffective that they might as well have stayed on the ground. From the air, the land battle is hard to observe, because l of the modern art of camouflage and the deployment of transport columns.”