HOW THE OFFENSIVE WAS TAKEN

Chronicle (Levin), 15 March 1946, Page 4

HOW THE OFFENSIVE WAS TAKEN

FIGHTER COMMAND'S TURNING POINT "By the beginping of 1941 Fighter Command of the R.A.F. was ready for the offensive," said a Levin airman on his return to New Zealand after five years of operatiom with the R.A.F. "Squadrons had brought in new pilots to replace those who had gone on rest, and others who had lost their lives, but 'the C.O.'s and wing leaders were veteran pilots of the Battle of. Britain. Thi old Mark.l Spitfire and Mark 1 Hurricanes, which had taken a thr'ashing over their own country, were now replaced by a newer ani more powerful mark of Spitfire, and many new squadrons were formed at the beginning of 1941. "The wings were led by such men, as 'Sailor' Malan, Douglas Bader, John yPeel, Johnny Kent and other farnous pilots. A wing in those days usually consisted of three squadrons, and for an operation each squadron flew twelve aircraft. The wing leader could fly at the head of the leading squadron. He chose the 'type of formation the^ aircraft would fly. For- example, - 'Sailor' Malan's squadrons in the Biggin Hill wing flew- in three fours in line astern, but in the. Tangmere wiipg Bader's squadrons fled six pairs of aircraft, all in line abreast of each other, while the Poles at Northolt had a formation of their own. "The offensive really started when Blenheim bombers, ' escorted by hundfeds of Hurricanes and Spitfires, bombed targets in Hun-occu-pied France at the very beginning of 1941. A good example of this type of operation was the bombing of the power station and installations at Lille, when 24 Blenheims, escorted by hundreds of fighters went out. First of all, about six squadrons of Spitfires would fly to the target area five minutes before fche bombers were expected in order to gain air superiority and engage any Huns prowling about. "While this was going on the Blenheims would have made _ a rendezvous over Southern England with three squadrons of Hurricanes, whose job was close escort. These Hurricanes usually flew very close to the bombers. The close escort and .the bombers would then be joined by several wings of Spitfires to give top cover. The Blenheims and Hurricanes normafly flew at about 12,000 feet and thelf Spitfire escorts were stepped up to 30,000 feet, so that -any Huns who wanted to add a bomber to their score didn't have much of a chance. They tried hard enough, and some terrific scraps took place. Just as the bombers left the trget area another wing of Spitfires would arrive and fly out behind the bombers, usually at a height of about 20,000 feet. The word given for this type oi operation was 'circus.' "Another type of operation which was very popular with the fighter pilots v/as a 'rodeo.' A 'rodeo' was a fighter sweep, and there were no bombers to be cared for. The one idea was to find Huns and destroy them, and in 1941 there were a lot of them coming up for a s'crap. One of the Hun squadrons which we frequently encountered was known as 'Goering's Yellow-nosed Boys.' This bunch of Huns painted the spinner on the propellors of the Me. 109's a brilliant yellow. They were good pilots, and never turned down a chance of attacking our aircraft.

"Just after the middle of 1941 all the Spitfire squadrons were reequipped with the Mark V Spitfire. which was an improvea model. This aircraft also carried two 20mm. cannons and a better engine. The Huns, however, brought out the Me. 109F which was an improvement on the old Me. 109E The R.A.F. managed . during 1941 ' to shoot down as many aircraft as the Huns did, while at the same time the fighting was being carried into German territory and many of our losses were due to German ack-ack fire. -The Huns also had their shipping in the Channel beaten up and their transport, troops and aerodromes strafed, while England was free from attack in daylight in 1941.

"During the war many new fighter squadrons wer^ formed These were R.A.F., Canadian, N.Z., Australian, Norwegian, French, Belgian and others. Manv 0f the experienced pilots who had been on operations since the" beginning of the war went on rest, and others who were experienced by now were leading the squadrons out over the Channel. By the end of 1941 the morale of our pilots was very high."