1940-10-31 — Page 3

British Pilots Have Hectic Time In Air Raids But Heavy Bombers Get Through To

MAJOR, STEP IN AID TO BRITAIN

President Roosevelt witt probably can- nounce a major step forward in the policy of increasing aid for. Britain when he speaks at Boston, ac- cording to a White House official accom- panying the President on his election cam- paign tour.

The speech is due to be made at about noon (H.K. time) 'to- day. Reuter.

000000

BOMBER CREW'S MIRACLE ESCAPE

An exciting adventure befell one British aircraft during Tuesday night's attack on Berlin, when it became "iced up" as it approached the German

capital.

Berlin

"THE FLYING SNOWMAN” was the-des-

·cription one British pilot-applied to himself after participating in a raid of British heavy bombers over Berlin on Tuesday.

For over 100 miles before reaching Ger- 'many, the British airmen had to fly blind. through a raging snowstorm as well as in- tense anti-aircraft fire, says the Air Ministry News Service in London.

Nevertheless, using numerous Another pilot who visited the parachute flares, the airmen found outskirts of Berlin was less for- their targets in the city's centre, tunate. "We ran into the same including large electrical works he, powdery snow. When we and bombed them despite thick first ran into it I climbed, hoping to find things better higher up, but almost at once the controls began to show signs of freezing

snow.

One pilot eald that a great quantity of snow penetrated the cockpit and covered his Instru-up. ments as well as himself-till-he looked like a flying snowman.

Atrocious Weather

The atrocious "weather 'over Germany, however, had the para- i doxical effect of increased diver- sity of the RAF. attacks as a whole.

At 3,000 feet, the tempera- ture was still 2 degrees .be- low zero, 50 we came down lower still-and-for 35 minuten fiew at a couple of thousand feet.

barrage though even that didn't "Once we ran into a terrific A.A.

warm us up much and for great deal of the time, ice crack- ing on the machine made a noise like hundreds of machine-gun

Oil Gupply centres were the chief objectivės, but 'planes which. encountered excessively bad weather were deflected bullets."-British Wireless. "eleswhere.

Severe Icing

સ

Thus, -in-addition to the objec- tives mentioned in the brief oficial communique. oil centres and ship-munications, docks

Oil supply centres, rail com- yards at Hamburg, Wilhelm-

And aero- shaven,

dromes over a wide area of Ger- Denhelder, Magdeburg many were among the many ob- and Flushing, the oil refineries utjectives successfully attacked on Leuna and Gelsenkirchen were Tuesday night, by aircraft of the bombed, together with industrial Bomber Command. plants at Leipzig, Krupps Works

at Essen and railway junctions. Weather conditions over most. Krupps had a heavy visitation, to the Ait Ministry bulletin, were of the operations area, according while a direct hit was scored on a very river bridge at Stralsund,

bad and low cloud with sevère icing conditions were 'fre- quently encountered:

Railways Attacked

German oil supply centres were Other aircraft, unable to locate the main objectives of the night's heavy hombs on the Ruhr railway were launched against refineries their primary targets, dropped operations and successful attacks Junctions and others farther north | and storage plants at Magdeburg, Flying at a great height, the munications between

and east, thus complicating com- Sterkrade, Gelsenkirchen, Hom- aircraft developed a flat spin and industrialised western regions of ing fires were started in the re the highly berg and Leuna. Strongly burn- in order to lighten the aircraft thehel Reich and the remainder of ninery areas at Homberg and pilot let go his bombs. The spin, -however, persisted and the crew were warned to get ready to aban don the aircraft.

It was not until the bomber's trailing serial had been wrenched off by contact with the ground that the pilot finally succeeded in getting the machine under con- irol

Germany.

Within ten minutes of the attack on the canal goodsyard at Muns- Fourteen other fires broke out ter, a great blaze dared up. in aerodromes, of which 29 were bombed. -Reuter.

Severe Conditions

The severe conditions in which Describing his experience on the raid on Berlin was carried cut his return to England, the bomber were graphically described by the pilot said that his crew was not pilots engaged.

Sterkrade.

Sheet Of Flame

was so

from a salvo of bombs

At Magdeburg, the explosion violent that the attacking aircraft was badly shaken. A few seconds later, the crew saw a sheet flame sweep across the target. Docks at Hamburg and

and the naval Wilhelmshaven,. all three

men

at

The raid was of which

of

Bre- base

*bad been heavi-

RESCUING. GERMAN AIRMEN SHOT DOWN ON SOUTH EAST COAST-While the battles are fought in the air over the South East Coast of England the lifeboats go out and rescue the, airmen, friend or foe. Photo Howe a coldier and policeman helping a German @airman@akhoʻe. (Copyright, "Fox).....

THIS IS THE NAZI STORY

A GERMAN HIGH Command communique is sued in Berlin yesterday claimed that a warship operating in overseas waters has announced the of 18,400.grossitons, and that a U-boat sunk a large sinking of three armed merchant ships with a total armed merchant ships of 10,500 tons..

ENEMY RAIDERS

SCATTERED

*Bomber units "again dropped numerous bombs on London and other military objectives in South England such as the naval harbour. at Portsmouth and the munitión dump in Great Yarmouth-was also bombed with success.

Two ships were hit "olf Rams“. gate. Italian planes participated. in these operations.

011

"As a reprisal for British attacks at all keen on the idea of descend-earliest Berlin has yet experienced, ly attacked

on German residential quarters, ing over Germany.

he first of the small

the previous night Enemy raider forma-several hundred thousand kilos of "My navigator," he said," "who force of heavy bombers reaching bombs, followed by incendiaries,

striking were

bombs were again dropped revisited. Heavy calibre tions which attempted a London during the night. is a young Australian from New the capital at 9 p.m. South Wales told me he didn't snowstorm was raging over Ber- docks but the ground haze and low under cover of banks of tection of darkness into Belgium, bst. A wore seen to burst within surprise daylight attack British 'planes flew under pro~ want to have to eat ersatz haulin and made the task of target cloud which prevailed over the feage for breakfast for the rest location extremely difficult but greater part of north-west Ger- dense clouds of the war,

after dropping flares, the raiders, many obscured the damage, "He seemed quite confident we succeeded in finding their targets. Attacks on rail: communication

over

Holland and the German Reich, the

but their bombs did not, as usual, south-east coast area yes-cause any damage worth mention- should pull out before we hit and Driving snow, however, obscured centres in Germany uncut terday, were again foileding to military objectives. The pointed out afterwards how sicks observation of the results. we should have been If we had The early part of the journey Hamburg and Krefeld,

spread. Goodsyards at Cologne, by British fighters.

enemy on Tuesday lost 47 'planes. jumped and then seen the aircraft to Berlin was grand, said the pilot junctions at Osnabruck,

Seventeen German 'planes are: railway recover from the spin and fly off of the first aircraft to reach Ber-Hausen and Hildesheim were R.A.F. machines closed with them

Reuter. missing. Nord- As they flew in from the sea, without us!"-British Wireless,

lin.

struck by heavy calibre bombs. A and 'scattered them into disorder "Visibility was excellent and heavy bomber which attacked the and retreat. we could see the stars in "an al- canal goodsyard near Munster most cloudless sity. Then, quite started a fire which ten minutes suddenly, we ran into a snow- later had developed into a great storm which kept its company all blaze. The aircraft came under the way to Berlin and most of the heavy anti-aircraft fire while way back..

making the attack and suffered Some of the "fine, powdery several hits from shell splinters snow blew into "my-cockpit in the wings and fuselage. and lay two Inches thick on

THIRTY PLANES SHOT DOWN

Thirty German raiding aircraft were destroyed during Tuesday and two additional German bombers were destroyed; during Tuesday night, the "Air "Ministry announced in London yesterday;

Reuter..

SHANGHAI CHINESE

the dashboard rectes. To make Debris Blown Sky High

masars worse, tha windscreens of the two front abokpita were completely covered to that We flow "many miles almost blind, depending entirely upon dur instruments. We had hoped to des clear of the "anow: before redoking Berlin but if Pony- sthing at "was worse when. We

arrived.

4

Reports received up to p.m.; (G.M.T.) yesterday. show that five enemy aircraft had been... destroyed and that four British fightera "were missing. It was also officially announced

FU SIAO-EN

FUNERAL

that two more enemy aircraft SPECIAL TO "CHINA - MAIL”) · were shot down on Tuesday;

day.

SHANGHAI, "INSTEAD OF A STATE BURIAL.

making a total of thirty for the ACCORDING TO THE "CEN- TRAL CHINA DAILY NEWS," A Final figures"are" not completed, MEETING OF - Some 20 enemy nerodromes in

NANKING'S Germany, Holland, Belgium and but even enemy aircraft had EXECUTIVE YUAN DECIDED France were located and attacked been destroyed over Britain up TO ALLOW A PUBLIC BURIAL during the night. The aerodrome to last evening according to FOR FU SIAO-EN, LATE PUP- at Rheine struck by a salvo of the latest oficial statement. Four PET MAYOR OF GREATER heavy calibre bombs, was lit up British planes are missing, by the flashes of two terrific ex-

Reuter. Mr. Ku Ching-hui, manager of

plosions which threw debris high into the air.. Docks and shipping the Ta Lun Silk Factory, Shang- hal, was "kidriäpped from his

Found Target

concentrations at Ymuiden, Flush- Ing and Den Helder, came in for residence at Yung Chong `Li; "Still we managed to find the yet another gerial bombardment

•East Yu-kling Kozu, lac

target a large électrical works and "at both Flushing and Den controlled Hongkew on Tuesday. ****

An official Cairo communique bombed through the Helder, fires were started in the staten that there is nothing to re- evening-Central News..

now."

LEH dock fréus. →→ British Wireless port British: Wireless,

·KIDNAPPED

NOTHING DOING

Soon after 'Fú's" eskastirmation, the authorities of the "Special Shanghai Municipality" decided to'pëlition for a State burini.

A public memorial service will be held to-day in the auditorium of the Municipality building at Klangwat-E