BOMBS ON GERMANY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 229, 26 September 1940, Page 17

BOMBS ON GERMANY

SWASTIKA STRAFING.

NEW ZEALANDERS ON THE JOB

(By VINCENT SHEEAN.) LONDON. Your correspondent was one of a dozen Americans, who wsited one of the stations in the British command to watch the departure and return of 'planes in a raid over Germany. This was the first time such an observation has been permitted; but once the Air Ministry decided to permit it they did the job thoroughly. We were oh the field for the departure and return of the 'planes, had a good j close-up inspection of a Wellington | bomber used on such flights, and had | our breakfast of liam and eggs at 4 j o'clock this morning with tht» raiders who had just returned from the land of the swastika. The big station we visited is one of several in a group which have been raiding Germany regularly in recent weeks. From our station 17 Wellington bombers left at 9.30 last night, and 17 returned betweeh two and four this morning. There were two other groups going over last night from other stations, so it is probable that German industrial and military centres had salutary notifications from the many Wellington bombers before dawn this morning. Headed Toward Eastern Darkness. It was a very dark night, with lowering clouds, and we could sec very little of the huge field except the navigation lights ef tile big bombers and a little streak of flare path. The Wellingtons took off one by one at two-minute intervals from about 9.30, circled the field once, giving their identification signals, then headed off toward the eastern darkness.

It took something less than one and a half hours to get these monsters off at their regular intervals, with their systematic mobilisation on signals from a widely dispersed area. The oldfashioned aerodrome, such as the French and Polish Armies used, bore no resemblance to this vast dispersal area in which—at least last night—'planes seemed to arrive from all directions and all possible distances. After the raiders had vanished we inspected one of their machines in the hangar. This, one of the best allmodern bombers, the type well known 'by now, is equipped with those powercontrolled turrets, which have been one of the greatest sources of R.A.F. strength in the present war. The precision and delicacy of this instrument is remarkable. The reargunner see ins able to swivel and swerve the gun to the left or lower it as exactly as an artist uses his pencil. The controlled gun turrent U to the R.A.F. what the Sperry sight is to American military aviation—the source of great pride. About 1.30 this morning the first of the 'planes began to return, but unfortunately so did the enemy aircraft. At least there were Germans in the neighbourhood, athough we heard 110 bombs and no aircraft were detected over the aerodrome. Even »o, the returning airmen had to circle over the field for a long while before it was possible for them to land. Dropped His Bombs "Safe." ®ne time in the black darkness, pierced by searchlights from ariny poets ' all over this jjart of England, there were at least nine 'planes circling over the field. One fellow had trouble with his hydraulic machinery, and rather than have him take a flat belly-landing he was instructed to go out to sea, drop his bom be "safe"—that is, so they would not explode, and return, using a hand apparatus for the 'plane's wheels. The wind changed in tHe<jnidst of this strange and beautiful show of lights in the darkness. Consequently the boys were kept up in the air a while longer, even after the German 'planes apparently had faded away. They all got down to home earth in regular twominute order, and without the slightest mishap, between 2.30 and 4 o'clock this morning. Afterward, in the mess hall, we had breakfast with them. This squadron is composed of New Zealanders. They have been making these trips regularly for weeks, and many of them took part in icy "leaflet raids" .last winter, in which they learned their way about Germany. Wanted to Get New Zealand. Last night th© weather was nretty bad —what they call "ten-tenths/' meaning 100 per cent clouds, shutting off the view of the earth, consequently they did not reach or identify main targets in any one case. Each 'plane has an alternative t4rget which can be taken as an objective when, because of weather or other conditions, it is impossible to attain its principal aim. The men are strictly forbidden to bomb indiscriminately, and when they are unaible to see either the primary or alternative targets, they must return home with their full load of bombs. This is what happened to three of them last night. In other cases they reached the ' alternative targets. Most of these alternative targets were aerodromes. Some of those bombed included big airfields around Amsterdam, such as Scliipol, Ypenburg and Venlo. One of the best alternative targets wag a munitions factory at Mors, in the Ruhr dis-, ■ trict, where a Wellington let loose its entire load, both of explosive and incendiaries, and saw the factory in flames before its departure. This 'plane got a severe dose of antiaircraft fire, as many did last night; and the gunner, who consumed his ham and eggs next to me, said his turret had 'been badly shaken and that shrapnel . came up all around him. As soon as their breakfast was over these lads made a rush for the sitting- • room in the mess, where there is a radio, i What they wanted was to get New Zealand. At 5 o'clock, when we left them, they were still trying. The dance music, which was coming over, sounded more like America to me.—2J.A.N.A.