HEAVY TOLL OF FLYING BOMBS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 228, 23 June 1944, Page 5

HEAVY TOLL OF FLYING BOMBS

Aerial And Ground Defences CROWDS CHEER KING ON TOUR IN SOUTH ENGLAND

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.! (Received June 22, 1 1.25 p.m.) LONDON, June 22. Flying-bomb attacks against southern England continued after midnight, but apparently less frequently than on the previous night. After dawn the Germans sent robots over southern England in what seemed greater numbers than during the night. Tempests, Typhoons and Spitfires patrolled the sky from the earliest light and shot down flying bombs one after another. In one locality they fell into the sea with a shattering noise, and others were intercepted when they crossed the coast, a proportion of them being shot down. Flying bombs were still coming over after breakfast time.

Britain’s best anti-aircraft gunners have been moved to the south of England to deal with the flying bomb. The teams were selected months ago, before the first flying bomb had appeared, and their sites were dug as far back as December. The teams have all flyingbomb routes through their area carefully ranged and sighted, and they let the bomb reach a certain point before opening up. The bomb sometimes explodes in mid-air and sometimes shell fragments clip the bomb’s wings or tail, bringing it to earth a short distance farther on. The area- in the vicinity of the guns is fast becoming a dump for flying-bomb parts. Crowds cheered the King yesterday when he visited sites in southern England which were damaged by flying bombs. The King spent some time examining the damage ’ and walked among the crowd, chatting to many people as he passed. Launching Sites Captured. A correspondent, describing the advance of the Americans in the Cherbourg Peninsula, says they have come on launching platforms there. Experts have been sent to study them. These Cherbourg installations, like the ones in the Pas de Calais area, have been bombed by the Allies for some time past. The “Daily Mail’s” aeronautical correspondent says the enemy had planned to launch’ flying bombs simultaneously from a very wide stretch of the French coast. Commenting on the discovery of two fly-ing-bomb sites by the Americans on the Cherbourg Peninsula, he points out that Southampton. Portsmouth, Bournemouth aiid the Isle of Wight are all nearer to Cherbourg than London is to the Pas de Calais. Last evening Liberators and R.A.F. Lancasters and Halifaxes again attacked bomb-launching platforms and supply depots in the Pas de Calais area. Medium and fighter-bombers on the previous day had attacked ten pilotless bomber stations in the Pas de Calais area. The weather yesterday, with low cloud, was good for flying-bomb raids, says the “Daily Express.” The Germans took advantage of it to send more missiles against southern England. “Flying bomb” has finally become the name officially given to Hitler’s new secret weapon. Since it first appeared it has received various names in the British Press, including buzz-bomb, bumble-bomb, pilotless plane, flying bomb and doodlebug. The aircrews engaged in shooting down the flying bomb have dubbed it the Pac, a contraction of “pilotless aircraft,” and apparently intend to perpetuate this in spite of the official description. R-A.F.’S ANSWER TO NEW WEAPON Tempest’s Attack Method ■LONDON, June 21. The Tempest fighter is one of the R.A.F.’s answers to the pilotless planes, and New Zealand and Australian pilots flying these fighters, the newest and fastest, are plying a big part in helping to defeat the enemy’s new weapon, says an Associated Press correspondent. It was disclosed today, during a visit by pressmen to an R.A.F. station in southern England, at which the new fighters are in action against the pilotless planes, that the Tempests have maintained a high average of kills of the total number the enemy has sent across the Channel, while the percentage of kills among the number actually sighted is placed 'by the leader of a Tempest squadron at this station, Wing Commander R. B. Beamont, as very high. The most effective answer so far to the robot, therefore, appears to be the Tempests. A New Zealand squadron equipped with Tempests is working at this station alongside a well-known (R.A.F. Tempest squadron, which includes a number of Australians. This station is at present termed “semi-static,” and is living completely under canvas. Bold Attack Method. While Tempests roared overhead on patrol for the “Paes,” Wing Commander Beaumont, who has himself 3i Pac kills to his Credit, talked enthusiastically in the briefing tent of the new fighters’ splendid achievements aaginst the new weapon, “It has no vices,” was his succinct summing up of the Tempest. He said the pilotless bombs were considerably faster than most of the fighters the Germans had used. Their speed during the first part of their flight is well over 350 miles an hour. The Teinpest, nevertheless, has sufficient superiority of speed to enable it to overtake its deadly quarry. The Tempest pilots have worked out their own methods of dealing with Paes. They were cautious at first, firing from 300 or 400 yards away, but now they attack up to within 100 yards. In the majority of cases the Paes are disabled and sent plunging to earth, and explode on hitting the ground, but a large number explode in the air and the overtaking fighter flies right through the terrific blast, almost invariably with the result that it is turned over on its back. Strangely enough, however, neither plane nor pilot has so far suffered serious injury, though often the paint has been completely burnt off a plane by the heat of the explosion and the rubber has sometimes been damaged. The fact remains that not a single fighter has yet been lost from this station in attacks against the pilotless planes. Wing Commander Beaumont emphasized the tremendous amount of work the Tempest pilots are putting into this new phase of air war which has been suddenly thrust upon them. They spend up to six hours a day in the air, in circumstances which often place a great strain on them. The pilotless planes are tricky to shoot down because they offer sueh a small target, _ demanding expert marksmanship. Once within range of the Tempest’s guns, however, they, prove very vulnerable. The average height at which they travel is 2500 feet, except in the final stage of their flight, when they begin to drop as the fuel runs out. The Teinpest pilots so far have seen two types of pilotless planes, one apparently a little larger than the other and somewhat faster.

The top-scorer against Paes in the R.'A.F. Tempest squadron is Flight Lieutenant Umbers, Dunedin, who is a flight commander and the only New Zealander in the squadron. He has 4i kills to his credit. The top-scorers in the New Zealand Tempest squadron are Pilot Officer R. J. Danzey and Flight Sergeant O. D. Eagleson, both of Auckland, each with 3 kills. At one time the Germans ■ launched seven robots in 90 minutes. An unnamed fighter squadron shot down the lot.