“NEW” WEAPON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 October 1943, Page 4

“NEW” WEAPON

SOVIET AIRMAN’S RESOURCE NAZI FIGHTER PUT TO FLIGHT. VEREY PISTOL SERVES WELL. The bombers were returning from a raid on a German aerodrome. It was just after midnight. They had swooped unexpectedly out of the sky, dive-bombing the German machines squatting one beside the other on the Don steppe. Flames leapt up and explosions rang out in the darkness of the night. The German machines were shattered in turn; pilots and technicians running about the field were cut down by splinters. Petrol tanks and hangars burned brightly. Twenty-seven enemy planes were reduced to heaps of twisted metal. Four attempted to rise in the air but were hit and destroyed during the take-off. Squadron-Commander Ushakov looked down upon the sea of fire below and signalled his planes to set a course for home. The job had been done well and quickly, and the flyers were satisfied.

The sky was beginning to brighten in the east and the bombers were nearing home when a large formation of Messerschmitts, sent out by the Nazi command to intercept them, appeared as if from nowhere. An uneven com-bat-seven bombers against nineteen fighters—was in the offing.

The Messerschmitts attacked like a Swarm of steel hornets, their engines whining and their cannons spitting tracer bullets and shells. The bombers fought back, but were at a bad disadvantage. During the raid they had not only dropped all their bombs but exhausted almost all their ammunition. CARTRIDGES EXHAUSTED. Two Sovifit machines were shot down, and the Messerschmitts circled furiously around Squadron-Leader Ushakov’s plane. Bullets rattled on the fuselage, but no serious damage was done and the bomber continued on its way, its rear-gunner firing an occasional burst from his machine-guns. Finally the gunner and navigator reported to the commander that there were.no more cartridges left. Ushakov quietly reached out for the tommygun on the rack by his side. The drum was full. With the butt, Ushakov broke the side window of the cabin, leaned out and met the attacking Messerschmitt with a burst of bullets. The Nazi turned away sharply, enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Steering the bomber, and leaning out of the window at each fresh attack, Ushakov continued the duel.

Another plane, following in the wake of the leader, was steered by 20-year-old Hero of the Soviet Union Senior-Lieutenant Demchenkov. Lieutenant Panteleyev, his navigator, was a general favourite among the crew. He was a gay-hearted young fellow, a fine guitar player and an extremely daring airman. He took on the Messerschmitts, his face wreathed in a broad grin. In between bursts he joked with the pilot over the inter-communication. But soon he too had exhausted his ammunition. The machine-gun was silent. Fire broke out on the right wing of the plane, but Demchenkov put it out by diving sharply. During the next attack bullets hit the right engine. Smoke appeared and the engine began to run unevenly. The situation was becoming serious. PUREST PSYCHOLOGY. The Messerschmitt circled over the damaged bomber, firing first from a distance, then swooping as if it' was going to ram the Soviet machine. Lieutenant Panteleyev watched the Nazi pilot closely; suddenly his face lit up with a smile. He seized a Verey pistol, loaded it and waited. The German was now coming towards the bomber from the rear. In the early morning mist Panteleyev clearly saw the plane and the pilot's head through the hood. “This is going to be the purest psychology,” he muttered, pressing the trigger. A golden stream passed over the German plane and disappeared in the distance, exploding in a red star. Panteleyev instantly reloaded the pistol and fired again, just when the German was on a level with the bomber’s nose, i This time he succeeded. It was pure chance, of course, but a lucky chance. A brilliant trajectory of light hit the hood and a hot substance stuck to the glass and flared up in a bright flame. The blinded German pulled away sharply and disappeared. “Exactly,” said the pleased Panteleyev, reloading his unusual cannon. “In war you must always be thinking up new weapons.” He was getting ready to use his “new weapon” again when he saw that the Messerschmitts had broken away from the bombers and turned tail. In the brightening sky he noticed, pursuing the fleeing Messerschmitts, the silhouettes of Soviet fighters sent to help the bombers. He tenderly caressed his Verey pistol, and said: “You’ve served the Soviet Union w.ell! I’ll have to take out a patent on this new weapon. The invincible aerial jerry-busting mortar—maybe I’ll get a prize for it!” A minute later the bomber landed on the smooth field of the home aerodrome.