COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
"It's OK Black Four. I have you in sight. We're all here. Come on
up and join us."
The Wing seemed doomed to endless interdiction. Targets came in
every conceivable form - track, embankments, goods yards, signal
boxes, junctions and bridges - especially bridges.
For the command had gone out. London had taken enough. The
deadly flow of V2s to the launching sites must be cut down to size or,
better still, stopped completely. The enemy thought otherwise. This
was his ultimate terror weapon, shortly to change the whole course of
the war, and nothing must stand in its way. When the lines were cut he
drove his repair gangs with utter ruthlessness. So we went out and cut
them again and again.
Interdiction was a slog. But there was one consolation. The V2
offensive against Antwerp would have been infinitely worse without
it.
Sometimes an easy show produced unexpected hazards. As happened
when I took a section of four to destroy a set of lock gates east of
Nijmegen. An ideal target for a low level attack, no flak, and our
bombing seemed to be spot on. Except that I almost collided with the
target - mushing violently through the plumes of spray thrown up by
my own cannon shells.
As we reformed after the attack Ben Lenson warned me that I had
a double hang up 7 , which explained a great deal. He was closing in for
a look.
"Bassett Leader your aircraft looks OK. Your bombs too. But the
fins are a badly damaged."
So what about those two little propellers, safety elements in the
fusing system, had they gone too? Ben wasn't sure. I checked the
selector switches, operated the bomb push continuously, and
pumphandled the control column. All in vain. The bombs stayed put.
I called Craven A 8 for assistance and there was an armourer
waiting at the end of the runway. He came forward as I slowed
carefully to a stop and disappeared under the wings. Moments later he
emerged grinning broadly and giving me the thumbs up. Panic over!
The fins looked horrible. Battered and twisted, the propellers torn off,
so that the detonator pistols were floating free. The slightest jar would
have blown my aircraft to pieces!
With the first snows the polder countryside surrounding the Zuider
Zee, which contained many of our interdiction targets, became even
more bleak and secretive. Dyke and canal, villages and farms, stood
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