AIR FORCE FLIGHTS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 255, 6 November 1939, Page 4

AIR FORCE FLIGHTS

TOURS OVER GERMANY RECONNAISAXCE WORK PILOTS’ EXPERIENCES WESTERN FRONT, Oct.ty Single British reconnaisance planes are constantly making flights of hundreds of miles into Germany, with the'object of observing the movements of troops and taking photographs. The planes are meeting only slight opposition front enemy interceptor planes and are having little difficulty; in eluding pursuit by hiding in clouds. There is general agreement among pilots carrying out these expeditions that German anti-aircraft fire is extremely accurate. Industrial areas, particularly in the Ruhr, are very well defended by anti-aircraft guns. A Canadian pilot belonging to a formation whose planes have been as far afield as Bremen and Hanover, said: “I flew alone in daylight as far as Coblenz, and was away for four hours. The weather was good. I encountered no opposition at first, and then was shot at. Shells burst round the plane ,;ut one stage. Some were* very close,/and rocked the plane. I saw three .German planes about 200 ft. below, hnp I could not swear that they were after me. 1 got into a cloud and never saw them again.” Hard' to Hit a Single Plane

Another Canadian pilot said lie .saw no German planes during a long (light, but thatthc German anti-aircraft guns but that the German anti-aircraft guns hit a single plane.” lie said. This pilot considered that the reason 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 moonlightbrilliant that he could see rivers clearly. “Reconnaissance pilots fly alone, thus attracting the least attention. A single,plane is able to carry out relatively rtf's'good a reconnaissance as irom two to .six planes,” lie added. Dominion pilots in some Royal Air Force squadrons outnumber the United Kingdom pilots. Airmen belonging to formations have made eight reconnaissances, said that seine ol those (lights were undertaken by bombers carrying crews of three. The planes do nut ahvifys return to the base from which they started, hutmake? 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 comes from Britain, wlrei'eas it- is diflicut lor Germans io leant Britain's weather.