FREE FRENCH AIRMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 120, 23 May 1941, Page 8

FREE FRENCH AIRMEN

OPERATING IN ABYSSINIA

RUGBY, May 21

Side by side with the R.A.F., a Free French squadron has taken part daily for the past two months in the operations in Abyssinia. They have been mentioned frequently in British official communiques, particularly in connection with the bombardment of Debra Markos . and Bahardar, and more recently in the region of Lake Tsana. especially at Gondar and Chilga.

The following account of an action by a French flight lieutenant who fought in France until just before the armistice is typical:

"We had just completed our first flight over Gondar aerodrome, where we dropped two bombs on a hangar. I was getting ready for a second attack when I saw an Italian CR42 coming out of the clouds about two miles off. and heading straight, for us. I immediately made for the; clouds, but the C.R42 was faster. It gave chase, and Cor two minutes was not more than 200 yards away, firing all the time. Our plane was peppered with tracers. One of these, hitting our machine just above the shield bearing the Cross of Lorraine, missed our gunner by about 20 inches. He quickly put out tracer bullet fires, and there was such a smell of burning that I thought something more serious had happened.

"The Italian plane, crossing in upon us, dived under the Blenheim's tail to attack from below. Seeing this manoeuvre. I banked suddenly, so as to get the enemy within range of our machine-gunner. He released a long burst of tracer bullets, some of which went straight into the enemy's engine. As a result the distance between us and the Italian rapidly increased, and we finally saw him crash on rough ground."—B.O.W.