OVER THE CHANNEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1940, Page 8

OVER THE CHANNEL

DEADLY ATTACK ON ITALIAN PLANES BRITISH OFFICER’S STORY enemy airmen show fight. BUT MACHINES HOPELESSLY OUTCLASSED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1'1.58 a.m.) RUGBY, becember 6. Details have been given in a broadcast talk of a fight with Italian aefoplatids over the Channel by the commanding officer of an auxiliary fighter squadroh who was one of the first pilots to open fire oh enemy aircraft over Britain, ahd who has led his squadron during the time in which it has destroyed a total of 91 victims.

Explaining,how he Was forced to-fly in Explaining how he forced to fly in the rear of the squadron, owing to engine trouble, the pilot said this accident enabled him to see the details of the battle. He Continued: “We were orf a southerly course, approaching Dover, when we were warned to look out for a formation of Italian aircraft. Every man Was immediately on the alert. After a couple of minutes we saw the enemy aircraft flying south-west down the Channel. They were still some dis« tance away and one thousand feet below- us. They Wei-e Italian fighters— CR42’s—and well over the sea. flying at about 20,000. feet-. Wheh i first had a good look at then), they gave me the impression of a party out on a quiet little jaunt. There were about twenty of them, flying along quite'happily in good formation. When our leader gave the order to attack and told us to sweep round and down on their tails, we were in a very advantageous position. Our machines must be about 100 miles per hour faster than the Italian fighters and it was dead easy to overtake them and blaze away. They were flying in a wide fan-like formation, and when we went to the attack each of our pilots selected his particular target. You can imagine how effective the first gunners’ bursts were when I tell you that one pilot at one time saw six Italian fighters, either oh fire or spinning down towards the sea.

“The Italians showed fight in a way the Germans have never done with our sqliadron. It is true, though, that they seemed amateurish ,in their reactions. By that I mean that ,they were slow to'realise that we were anywhere near them Until'it was too late. “After a short while, the Italians were dodging this Way and that tq escape as best they could. One of them broke formation and turned towards France. I chased him and fired at him several times. I- believe I hit him and could have finished him off if my engine had not begun to splutter again when I was half-way across the Channel. The whole fight lasted only ten or fifteen minutes.”