PATROLS & ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 May 1940, Page 6

PATROLS & ATTACKS

ROYAL AIR FORCE PLANES HARB AT WORK

MANY ENEMY PLANES DESTROYED.

OFTEN IN SPITE OF HEAVY ODDS.

(British Official. Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, May 23.

R.A.F. fighter pilots yesterday continued to patrol the battlefields in France and Belgium, destroying more Nazi bombers, fighters and army co-operation aircraft. The Air Ministry announces: “AU day vesterday, .Blenheim Battle? and Lysander aircraft continued to harass enemy movements in the lighting areas of North-East France and Belgium.

Enemy tank columns and motorised units were attacked and many hits were made on them. Concentrations of troops were repeatedly bombed, mach-ine-gunned and thrown into disorder. Five’of our aircraft failed to return. "Last night a strong force of heavy and medium bomber aircraft went out to attack objectives behind the fighting front. In Southern Belgium and the Meuse sector, much damage was done to road and rail junctions. The railway junction at Charleroi was damaged. Bridges in the Namur region sustained direct hits. Troop concentrations were heavily bombed in the area north of the Aisne. Other large formations interfered with the enemy’s lines of communication. At Binche, railway bridges and sidings were hit. At Geldern, two supply trains were bombed. They exploded and caught fire. North of Aachen, wto other goods trains were hit. Returning from these raids, one of the aircraft saVed a last bomb for a direct hit on a runway at a Hague Aerodrome. Another aircraft penetrated Germany as far east as Leipzig and bombed an important power station near Rotha.

FIGHTERS ACTIVE. “Fighter aircraft were also extremely active in yesterday’s operations, carrying out continual sorties over the battle-fronts. They had another successful day. In the course of many encounters, over forty enemy aircraft were destroyed or seriously damaged. Six of oiir fighters are missing. Operations have been continued throughout the day with qndiminished intensity.” “The pilot of one machine crashed unhurt in France and is now safely back in England.

“Eight Hurricanes tackled 35 dive bombers—Junkers 87's. Patrolling near Arras, they encountered the German bombers flying at 1.200 feet, about to make a bombing attack. As the Nazi raiders dived, the British pilots swooped down on their tails. Six bombers were definitely destroyed, while three more were so badly damaged that they were unlikely to reach their base. LONE PILOT'S FEAT. “During the battle, one British pilot lost touch with the remainder of the sciuadron. Making his way home alone, he was attacked by nine Messerschmitt 109 fighters. The pilot escaped into a cloud, but as he came, out at another point he found himself close to a German fighter. At point-blank range, he fired a burst from his eight machineguns and reached home safely. “Six Hurricanes attacked twenty Messerschmitt 109’s over Hazberouck and shot down two. In spite of the heavy odds, the British pilots came out of the battle unhurt. “Over St Omer, other Hurricanes attacked fifteen Messerschmitt 109’s, destroying four and probably another two.

“Eleven Hurricanes patrolling near Hazebrouck found 24 Junkers 87’s bombing roads and railway stations and shot down four bombers and possibly another three. Another fighter patrol engaged a number of German Henschel 126 Army co-operation aircraft, shooting down six, while a seventh, forced to land, was machine-gun-ned on the ground. “Three Heinkel bombers were shot down over Northern France by a squadron of Blenheim long-range fighters and a fourth bomber was damaged.

TWENTY-SEVEN RAIDERS SHOT DOWN BY BRITISH FIGHTERS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Dav, 8.45 a.m.) LONDON, May 23. The Air Ministry states that one fighter group of the R.A.F. yesterday shot down 27 German raiders and probably incapacitated ten others. The same pilots, during the weekend, destroyed at least fifty planes. Six British planes participating in yesterday’s fighting failed to return.