DEFENCES IN CO-OPERATION

Southland Times, Issue 24164, 28 June 1940, Page 5

DEFENCES IN CO-OPERATION

Efficient Aid To Fighter Pilots

(British Official Wireless)

RUGBY, June 26.

The Ministry of Home Security confirms that no serious damage was caused in last night’s air raid over England and Scotland. The raid started before midnight and continued for three hours. A notable feature was the successful co-operation between the fighter aeroplanes, the searchlight stations and the anti-aircraft guns. Several pilots on landing reported that they had been greatly helped by searchlights illuminating the enemy.

In one case a flight lieutenant flying a Spitfire, who shot down a Heinkel 111 in the Firth of Forth area, first found the bomber when it was illuminated by a cluster of searchlights. While it was held by the beams the Spitfire overhauled it and the pilot fired a long burst from dead astern. Crippled, the Heinkel went into a spiral dive, sparks and smoke pouring from it. Watchers on the ground saw it burst into flames and dive into the sea.

A second Heinkel was brought down in the Firth of Forth area by the leader and sergeant of another squadron. The German machine, after jettisoning its bombs, crashed into the sea. Another Heinkel dived into the sea off the Yorkshire coast. DORNIER SHOT DOWN Also off the Yorkshire coast a searchlight crew watched a Dornier first hit by anti-aircraft fire and then attacked and shot down into the sea by a Spitfire pilot. Although the British pilot was wounded he succeeded in flying back to his base. The Air Ministry announces that Royal Air Force bombers last night continued' their attacks on enemy aerodromes, rail communications and other military objectives in the Netherlands and northwest Germany. Heavy attacks were made on aerodromes at Arnhem and Borkum. The railway bridge at Lingen, near the Dutch frontier, was destroyed. Damage was done to the Hamm rail junction and the railway siding at Dorsten, north of the Ruhr, a large fire being started. The Osterfeld marshalling yard was bombed and the Monheim oil refinery severely damaged. Hits were registered on an aircraft factory at Bremen and at Cologne a salvo of bombs caused explosions in a chemical works. An ammunition dump at Heligoland was blown up. ! BOMBER’S SUCCESS One British bomber returning from this operation shot down an enemy fighter. All the British aircraft returned safely. From a reconnaissance over Scandinavia two Coastal Command aircraft failed to return.

Nine Spitfires patrolling northern France sighted seven Messerschmitt 109’s, flying at a height of more than two miles. As the enemy climbed and dog-fights started, 10 more Messerschmitt 109’s joined the battle. Three were shot down, three others were seriously damaged and are believed to have been destroyed, and several others were hit.

In the case of the Bomoen aerodrome near Bergen a constant watch by British reconnaissance aircraft had revealed the construction of this landing ground. Coastal Command bombers waited until the work was almost nnished before paying a visit in the small hours of today. Many bombs were dropped and explosives wrecked the runway with direct hits. Incendiary bombs set the barrack huts and nearby woods ablaze. The pilots counted 40 fires on and around the aerodrome,