NINE ENEMY PLANES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 November 1940, Page 5

NINE ENEMY PLANES

SHOT DOWN OVER BRITAIN YESTERDAY One From Height of Nearly Five Miles SUPPLY SHIP BOMBED IN NORWEGIAN WATERS GERMAN LOSSES OF NIGHT BOMBERS IN OCTOBER In Britain yesterday 9 enemy planes were shot down, a 8.8. C. broadcast reports. Six of our planes were lost, but the pilots of two are safe. R.A.F. machines again bombed long range gun emplacements on the French coast. British fighters and anti-aircraft defences were constantly in action on Thursday against enemy formations, all of which were quickly dispersed and driven off. Bombs were dropped at several points in London, East Anglia and elsewhere. The damage done was slight and the number of casualties small. An enemy plane was shot down. Yesterday afternoon enemy raids were made on the Midlands, Merseyside and towns in East Scotland. Enemy air activity over Britain on Thursday night was on a small scale. A Messerschmitt fighter-bomber flying at s a height of nearly five miles above the Straits of Dover was shot down by British anti-aircraft guns. At about the same time a duel was in progress between a Hurricane and a Dornier bomber at a height of only about fifty feet above the water. The enemy machine was last seen limping homeward seriously damaged. British Hudson bombers successfully bombed a heavilyladen enemy supply ship in Norwegian waters. A heavy engagement with enemy fighters followed. One Hudson machine is missing. The others returned safely. There were no British bombing operations over Western or Central Germany on Thursday night on account of bad weather. Ships in the Straits of Dover were shelled from the French coast. More than 100 salvos were fired, but not one of the ships appears to have been hit. A German bomber was driven off and made no attack on the ships. During October, British antiaircraft guns and fighters brought down 36 enemy bombers at night and another was destroyed when it struck a balloon barrage cable. The total number of night bombers destroyed was two more than in September and since attacks were heavier in that month, the comparison is better, from the British standpoint, than appears at first sight.