AIR FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 April 1940, Page 5

AIR FIGHTING

OUTBURST ON WESTERN FRONT SIX OR SEVEN NAZI PLANES SHOT DOWN. ACHIEVEMENTS OF ALLIED FIGHTERS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 20. R.A.F. Headquarters in France an non need that Hurricane fighters shot down four and possibly five German planes in the first large-scale encounter on the Western Front after the invasion of Denmark and Norway. One of the British aircraft was forced to land by enemy action. The pilot escaped unhurt and all the rest of the British aircraft returned safely. The French official evening communique announced that in the course of numerous air engagements a German fighter and a reconnaissance plane was brought down on French territory by French fighters. Others were brought down by the British Air Force. One of the French fighters was forced to land within its lines. On the previous day British fighters engaged enemy reconnaissance aircraft and brought one down in the British lines and forced down another out of control behind the enemy lines. All the British aeroplanes returned to their bases. The communique states that during the night several enemy land raids were repulsed. French and German artillery fire at the centre of the front from the Moselle to the Rhine was more intense and heavier today than on previous days. GERMAN CLAIMS BERLIN. April 21. The official news agency claims that three French planes and one British plane were shot down over the Western Front and that only one German fighter was lost. Daventry states that the R.A.F. has scored fresh successes on the Western Front where four Messerschmitts have been shot down without the loss of a single British plane. An Air Ministry communique states that eight fighters of the R.A.F. met an enemy formation of 12 Messerschmitt 109 fighters. The British attacked, and as the result of the general engagement which followed, two enemy aircraft were shot down and crashed down apparently out of control. Another engagement with- a (Strong formation of enemy fighters occurred later in the day, when a British patrol shot down a Messerschmitt 110 and a Messerschmitt 109, both of which fell in French territory. Another Messerschmitt 109 is also believed to have been destroyed. One of our pilots who was slightly wounded in the first action made a successful forced landing. All the rest of our machines returned safely to their bases. LEAFLET RAID GERMAN PLANES OVER FRANCE. ONE SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES. LONDON, April 21. German planes carrying leaflets flew over north-eastern France last night and at dawn Allied anti-aircraft gunners forced the raiders to retire. Theyshot down one in flames in central France. HEINKEL CRASHES SHOT DOWN BY BELGIANS. FRENCH PLANE MAKES FORCED LANDING. AMSTERDAM. April 20. A Heinkel bomber crashed and was badly damaged in a hamlet in Limburg Province. One German was killed and the others were unhurt. Belgian anti-aircraft gunners were responsible for bringing down the plane. A French plane pursuing the German made a forced landing in Belgium and the crew was interned.