AIR FORCE FLIGHTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20086, 4 November 1939, Page 3

AIR FORCE FLIGHTS

TOURS OVER GERMANY RECONNAISSANCE WORK PILOTS’ LXPF.RiENCF.S WESTERN FRONT. Oct. 19. Single British reconnaissance planes tare constantly making flights of hundreds of miles into Germany with the object of observing the movements of troops and taking photographs. The planes arc meeting only slight opposition from enemy interceptor planes and are having little difficulty in chicling pursuit by hiding in clouds.

There is general* agreement among pilots carrying out these expeditions that German anti-aircral’l lire is extremely accurate. Industrial areas, particularly in the Ruhr, are very well defended by anti-aircraft guns. A Canadian pilot belonging lo a formation whose planes have been as far afield as Bremen and Hanover, said: "1 llew alone in daylight as far as Coblenz, and das away for four hours. The weather was good. I encountered no opposition at first, and then was shot at. Shells burst round the plane at one stage. Some were very close, ancl rocked the plane. 1 saw three German planes about 200 ft. below, but I could not swear that they were after me. I got into a cloud ancl never saw them again."

Hard (o Hit a Single Plane Another Canadian pilot said he saw no German pianos during a long flight, but that the German anti-aircraft, guns shot accurately. “It is very hard to hit a single plane,” he said. This pilot considered that the rea-

son German interceptor planes had been encountered so seldom was that Germans had not thought it worth while interfering with the invaders in as much as they were not dropping bombs. A third Canadian, who is on exchange from the Canadian Air Force, said that he made a reconnaissance, starting at 15,000 ft., in moonlight so brilliant that lie could see rivers clearly.

"Reconnaissance pilots fly alone, Unis attracting the least attention. A single plane is able lo carry out relatively as good a reconnaissance as from two to six planes,” lie added. Dominion pilots in some Royal Air Force squadrons outnumber the United Kingdom pilots.

Airmen belonging to formations whose planes have made eight reconnaissances, said that some of these flights were undertaken by bombers carrying crews of three. The planes do not always return lo the base from which they started, blit make circular tours, rejoining their units later. Pilots said that the R.A.F. obtains accurate reports of German weather from various sources. Britain lias a great advantage over Germany in weather reports, because most ol Germany's weather conics from Britain, whereas it is difficult for Germans to learn Britain's weather.