1941-05-12 — Page 39

THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 12, 1941.

CHINA MAIL

WINDSOR HOUSE

HITLER'S VERSAILLES

an-

Before the deceased ceased to struggle, two well-known ambulance chasers bobbed

up in Vienna to perform other autopsy. This time the victim was Yugo- slavia, and the operators! rushed to the morgue with indecent haste because! the fight over the remains' threatened to become em- barrassing. Under cover of the engrossing mili- tary operations in Greece. four claimants advanced · in force over the pros- trate

body of

Yugo- slavia, each staking off a coveted slice of territory.¦ The Italians dashed un the Adriatic coast from the Albanian border to Fiume to gain possession of Dalmatia. The Bul garians marched into Macedonia, establishing! themselves in the South Serbian town of Skoplje. The Hungarians and Ru- manians drew up in bat- tle array, ready to fight! over the rich lands of the

A number of young men are, Gee, we are racing down

divining rods which are now be- , lined up at dusk on an R.A.F. I gave her the gun all right,ing tried out to probe the skies| Yugoslav Banat, once station for at new kind of duty. Swung her round for A G. to get to find the bomber cannot be fully ruled by Hungary. Mean- They are the men who can see a broadside to port with all his explotted unless they lead Lo

in the dark, specully selected as four guns.

illumination. time the frontiers of the night der because of their keen Knew it was it itun, because no The Best D.P C. has been award- separate state of Croatia, “yesight.

uther R.A.F. aueraft in this sectored for night interception. Flight- Comme with me to i night- This job depends on good or- Lirut. John Cunningham-~ "cut's- have not been finally de- tighter station and let us try to ganisation in ground and air if the eyes Cunningham" he is called termined and Saturday's prve the gloom with the pilot system is to work. It worked this | because of his uncanny night

I who the: mld arctic temperatures, time.

VISION chased a raider for reports indicate that large at 50 betow

10 Zero to hunt Nazi We got a JU 88 all right. Well minutes off the South coast and sections of the scattered pilots.

done A Gi

got him. Serb army

are still alive: and kicking in the centre

of the country.

Yates

QUICK-CHANGE ARTIST

Night Fighter

A Typical Log

f

It's worth going down through the muick to find the aerodrome with the first one in the bag on Here as a typical log of a lone, the first patrol to-night. prbit on night patrol;

Warned

16 00 hour; (4 pan.)

Dressed and stroiled over to the hot meal of ham artel

There is danger for for duty Hitler in all these disputes mes for and new divisions. A egs and lot of tea at 17.00 frmurs

IR (H hour. On the farmae. Not so

i tye in each other to avoal col- abon,

18.45 hours My turn to take- IT. Wind would be S.W, to-night,

32 33 hours Lander O.K Boulton Paul Defiants are the Imachines they generally use for

this job.

He sighted another above him and with well-aimed tracer bul. lets found his billet.

How did he see his enemy in the dark" It was the tell-tale ones of the exhaust gases from the motors which betrayed the toe Those exhaust flames are not

It was the Defiant which, when fenilile by day. first tried out, shot down 60 enemy

By William Courtenay

king me taxi a couple of mireraft in three days in France

particularly ugly situa-cloud is heavy and low. tion is developing in good for pre-dawn landings. Rumania, where Antones- 18.30 hours Taxi out, keeping cu, prodded by the inex- tinguishable Iron Guard, is publicly repudiating the Vienna Dicktat. This must have been consider ed in Vienna, for while the quarrelsome Balkans have to take anything they get, and like it, the master of the house must be in- furiated by the incessant

without loss to themselves.

Giant Task

Clever devices are resorted to lo try to conceal them at night. but they cannot be hidden alto- gether.

Let us go over the difficulties which face our night fighters and

see the magnitude of their task.

First, the aerodrome itself is

ist. Anyway, it warms the en- Many people have wondered shrouded in darkness except for doesn't seem to mind being bump-withdrawn from service after its mechanics. gine, and my A.G. (air gunner) why the Dellant was so suddenly the flare path hurriedly lighted by ed along.

good work in France and why a round it ever since. veil of secrecy has been drawn

18:57 hours. Take-off at last.

agine running sweetly. How the instrument fingers seem to dance when 50 of them jump about like

marionettes just at the take-off in darkness. This ghostly lighting on the dashboard makes me look all

weird and green.

disorder reigning among 19.20 hours That's better. } the conquered but appar- the first 20,000 feet, with always feel happier when I've got ently unconquerable lots of room below there's lots of lime to think of what to do in peoples.

emergency I love altitude. I won- der how high we can take the

The Fuehrer has "erate" to-night. sketched a new map of 19.30 hours-A.G. behind seems alert and unusually communica- Southeast Europe. His tive, I can hear him talking to Versailles will be

an-imself. Must be to relieve the boredom. Perhaps he'll be LOD nounced instead of nego-busy soon to be bored.

and tiated. It will be the 21.30 hours-32,000 feet,

50 below. Phew! I've never been

The Deflant ties into its allotted part of the sky. Straining eyes watch for the white breakers The enemy would like to know which betray the presence of this, too. Only this much can be water, though even these are dif- ficult to detect from high al- titude.

said.

He turns to search his area when he judges the raider will have en- tered it.

These aircraft were designed as night fighters, When they were tried out in daytime in France cularly as they were “a surprise It is at this stage that the pilot they did exceptionally well, parti- packet."

prays for the vision of the cat. He Lessons were learnt which have peers into the gloom of darkness been incorporated in these air- for some sign of engine exhaust craft, and now they are back at glow or for the sinister silhouette the task for which they were de- of the intruder. signed.

Once this appears he is able to manoeuvre into position for his gunner to open fire.

The patrol and vigil are short for the Deflant does not carry a big fuel supply. Groping down in the darkness to find the dim glow of the flare path is yet an ordeal

The Blenheim fighter-bomber is Its also used for night fighting. long range, gun turret umidships and crew of three make it admir- able for night interception, and its speed of 300 m.p.h. Is superior to that of any enemy bomber which

it may meet.

There are other types, too, new

Let us take a look at the pilots -Britain's new "fly-by-nights". They are hand-picked youngsters, fresh and alert, with the eye of an eagle and the pouncing power of

a' hawk.

"Diktat" of one man so high, but it's warm enough In instead of a compromise here. We must have crossed the

coast. I'll turn back

now and types, -worked out by many-keep up and down this strip,

minded commissions Feel like a copper on his beat at night with "nothing to report, hearing all sides. And it nobody drowned and nothing to will settle nothing, satisfy laugh at at all" as little Albert nobody, and contain no

28.00 hours Time to be going provision for appeal or re- down. The petrol's running low: peal. Of all the strait- But suspect I can see a faint red glow below. Wish I could hear jackets ever devised, it engines of other aircraft above will be the most inflexible, the noise of mine. Then I could the most inhumane, and follow a lot easier.

That glow's an engine exhaust,

said.

as we see already in I bet. Rumania and Hungary the most futile.

Yes, there he is. Now for it. I'll make her touch 415 m.p.h. to get after him. Sho'll take it.

Only the young and very at are. selected for night-flying tasks aboard the fighters. It is a new

technique.

The main problem of the night fighter may be summed up in one sentence. Ha must ene ble enomy or he cannot hope to close with him and bring him down.

to be faced when the hours of sentry-go are over,

If bad weather closes in on the aerodrome while the pilot is "up- stairs" his task is doubly danger- ous.

But with this system of co- ordination and cooperation and with Intensive training at the technique of night:fighting, ex- cellent results are now being. Achloved.

From the experience the techni que is being perfected.

come into

AB new devices operation there'ls the certain pro- mise that in time the R.A.F. will grasp the menace of the roving night raiders and by the infliction Seeing In the dark-that is the of heavy casualties make them essence of the problem. And all fear the night дя already the scientific devices and aerial the "Luftwaffe" fears the day.