NAVAL PLANES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 March 1942, Page 3

NAVAL PLANES

OPERATIONS FROM DESERT WHILE CARRIERS WERE UNDER REPAIR. ATTACKS ON ENEMY CONVOYS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY March 8. The work of fleet aircraft temporarily stationed in the Libyan desert was described in a broadcast by Commander Kimmins. “In the earlier stages of the Mediterranean war,” he said, “our aircraftcarriers soon made their presence felt in such brilliantly successful actions as Taranto and Matapan. Ace German Stuka squadrons were specially diverted from the war on Britain with orders to get those carriers at all costs. For a time they were beaten off, but at last in an attack which for sheer determination won the admiration of all and which in numbers far exceeded anything previously encountered in those waters, the Ilustrious was hit and temporarily put out of action. Later the Formidable suffered a similar fate. “Both carriers had to dock for repairs, and so their Fleet Air Arm squadrons found themselves shorebased and doing whatever odd jobs came their way. Eventually they reached the Western Desert. The desert provides some of the toughest conditions any fighting man has ever had to contend with. Moreover, their Swordfish and Albatross torpedobombers and Fulmar fighters were designed and built for an aircraft-carrier only. Torpedoes are delicate weapons whose high-speed mechanism and sensitive gyros are normally prepared for action under ideal conditions. A speck of sand dr grit in any of the hundreds of moving parts will cause a faulty run.” The squadron’s duties were to attack enemy convoys and give fighter protection to British convoys.