FORCED DOWN IN SCOTLAND FRENCH AEROPLANES U-BOAT LOSSES UNDER FRANCO'S ORDER ITALIAN REARMAMENT SINGLE COMMAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 256, 30 October 1939, Page 8

FORCED DOWN IN SCOTLAND

FRENCH AEROPLANES

U-BOAT LOSSES

UNDER FRANCO'S ORDER

ITALIAN REARMAMENT

SINGLE COMMAND

GERMAN RECONNAISSANCE PLANE Received Oct. 29, 6.30 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 28. An air-raid warning was sounded at the Firth of Forth this morning and the all clear was given within half an hour. Gunfire was heard before the sirens sounded.. People saw what was believed to be an enemy plane emerging from the clouds very high up. No bombs were dropped. The Air Ministry announces that a German aircraft was forced down at Dalkeit. It carried a crew of four, two of whom were dead and one wounded. The pilot was not injured. The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh. A later message states that hundreds of Scottish countryfolk saw the Nazi reconnaissance plane forced down east of Dalkeith in one of the most amazing displays of aerobatics ever seen in British skies. Twisting, turning, shooting upwards, and roaring to earth, the enemy plane fruitlessly tried to shake off the British lighters. It finally crashed, but the pilot still attempted to control the machine, taxiing over rough ground, in an effort to take off again. He gave up when his plane crashed through a wall and struck a hillside.

MARKEDLY SUPERIOR TO GERMAN FIGHTERS. Received Oct. 29, 7.30 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 28. The Exchange Telegraph’s Paris correspondent says the French Air Force reports that to October 20 the French Jost eight lighters and the Germans 24. French lighters are markedly superior to th<# Masserchmitts. French production rises continually and factories are employing 300,000. Air Force recruits number 200 daily. Two hundred and fifty day and seventy night reconnaissance flights were carried out at an altitude of 25,000 feet.

THE GERMAN VERSION ONLY THREE SUBMARINES OVERDUE. Received Oct. 29, 6.30 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 28. It is reported from Berlin that a German official communique for the first time mentions the submarine losses. It states: “Thus far three Übots are overdue and must be presumed lost. The economic warfare in the Baltic, North Sea and Atlantic continues successful. Our naval units confirm the sinking since October 18 of 22 ships of a total tonnage of 109,370. The foreign Press reports a further three sinkings of a total tonnage of 12,606. The total enemy losses during the war are 115 ships of a gross tonnage of 475,321. Because unconfirmed reports are disrgarded, it must be presumed that the real number is considerably higher. Despite our successes in the trade war, our own losses are very small. - ’

REPUBLICAN SOLDIERS REGISTERING Received Oct. 29, 6.30 p.m. MADRID, Oct. 28. Thousands of Republican soldiers are registering under General Franco’s order warning them of arrest in default of registration by November 1. This means the Government is scrutinising the war record of every able-bodied man from Republican territory.

£180,000,000 IN CURRENT YEAR. Received Oct. 28, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 28. The Rome correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that £180,000,000 is being devoted to rearmament in the current financial year.

ALLIED AIR FORCES DOMINION PILOTS FEELING THE COLD. Received Oct. 29, 6.30 p.m. PARIS, Oct. 28. Once air warfare is fully launched, it is expected that a British officer, occupying a similar position to Marshal Gamelin over the Allied Forces, will command the air arms. Australian and New Zealand pilots, who find waiting tiresome, demonstrated their skill and daring by bombing buildings at one end of an aerodrome, which they are not allowed to do in peacetime. Every squadron is seasoned with a ration of two to six Dominion pilots who, except the Canadians, are severely feeling the cold snap. The news that a fortnight hence they will be granted two or three days’ and nights’ leave, including Paris, cheered them up.