PILOTS PLEASED BY CONDITIONS

Southland Times, Issue 24236, 20 September 1940, Page 5

PILOTS PLEASED BY CONDITIONS

No Cloud Over Enemy Coastline HEAVY EXPLOSIONS ON DOCKS (British Official Wireless) (Received September 19, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, September 18. Royal Air Force pilots who took part in the attack on the invasion ports on Tuesday night describe the flying conditions as perfect. There was bright moonlight, with no cloud over the enemy’s coastline. The British pilots could clearly make out the docks and railways along the quaysides. One British pilot said: “We got hardly any opposition at all. There were a few searchlights, but nothing to worry about. It was just like bombing on practice raids. I should say there were dozens of fires burning at Ostend when we got there. It was as light as day. We ran inland, turned round and ran up on the railway sidings, Our first stick of bombs started seven or eight fires. It looked as though we had hit an ammunition train, for explosions broke out —all

sorts of colours, white, red and yellow.Then as we turned to make a second run up there was a terrific upheaval. The stuff came up like a gigantic mushroom, thin at the bottom and spreading right out at the top. We were flying at 5000 feet and the force of the explosion threw us up about 50 feet. MASS OF FLAMES “In some parts of the dock area one couldn’t see anything,” said the pilot. “It was just a mass of flames, obliterating the ground. Two of my crew live in South London and they had had their homes destroyed. You can imagine they were feeling, pretty happy about this show of ours.” ' After a second attach, when more fires were started, this aircraft circled round for another five or six minutes to have a look. . “One thing struck me particularly, the pilot remarked. “The town itself, barring a few houses on the edge of the railway yard, appeared untouched. At any rate there were no fires or any other indication of it having been bombed. The fires were all on the dockside.” Another officer in the same squadron said: “We had seen explosions from the enemy’s coastline about five minutes after leaving our own coast and they continued intermittently most of the way out. We went straight into Ostend from the sea. As we were running up I could see fires and explosions still going on. Having got rid of my first lot of bombs I went out to sea again and then came back and did precisely the same thing all over again.”