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HEAT waves dance across
the surface of the aerodrome. There is the “smell of hot tar around the hanger
doors. All around the boundaries of the field crouch squat black aeroplanes –
beetle-like, except for the tall upstanding tails.
Each “Wellington” is a swarm
with men – the six of it owns ground crew and the specialists who move from
machine to machine, checking installations, testing instruments, servicing
electrical gear. For it is early afternoon, and the squadron is bound for
Germany that night.
Mobile tank wagons make the
rounds, pumping nearly a thousand gallons of fuel into each machine. Tractors
chug round trailing a train if bomb-laden trucks. Some of the “Wellingtons” are
taking a mixed load, high explosives and incendiary. Others bear bombs of
enormous weight and blast effect.
The bomb doors all down the
bellies of the aircraft are open, and one by one the bombs are raised into
position on the racks and locked in place. The doors close around them to be
opened again hundred of miles away over the target.
In the kitchens of the station
W.A.A.F. are making up the provisions for the night. Sandwiches are cut and
neatly packed. Vacuum flasks are filled. Each man in each machine is catered
for.
The crews have been
summoned for their briefing. Their target is the docks at Bremen, a
familiar mark. The Intelligence Officer goes over the points of the
attack.
There is a balloon barrage at 'A' - you
will recognise the triangle strip of water at 'B' just on your course - the flak
is particularly aggressive at 'C' (' Yes, don't we know it')".
The details of the operation are left to the discretion of the captains of the
individual aeroplanes on the job.
Questions are asked and answered, and with
a final "Good luck, chaps," the crew files out to make their preparations.
It is growing dusk. All around the
border of the field motors are starting up. Airscrews, turning over, catch and
throw the last rays of the sun. The turning discs look like waving
corn, red exhaust flames glow behind them - the air is filled with a
grumbling throb.
The crews walk
out, each carrying his parachute to stow in its rack. The first machines moves
out, turning into wind. First one, then the other engines opens full out to test
boost and
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oil pressure
and now, with a hiss, the brakes are released and the "Wellington" slowly
gathers speed down the runway.
At first ungainly, then with a sudden grace as it
leaves the ground, the heavily-loaded bomber clears the trees as its
undercarriage retracts and it disappears into the darkening sky.
Regularly, every minute, a machine takes off. In
Half an hour they are all gone. After the roar of the past hour, the
station seems uncannily quiet.
The ground crews move away to the canteen. Only in the
operations room is activity still intense. The course of the
raid is followed on the plotting table in silence broken only in voices on
the telephone.
Five hours pass, and then far in the distance, there
is the faint drone of aero-motors, a "Wellington" circles in the half light,
land, and taxies up to its dispersal point. The crew tumble out
nonchalantly, light cigarettes, and stroll over to have coffee and tell the
Intelligence Officer how they fared. A few minutes later, and another
"Wellington" comes in - and then another, and another , now in an irregular
stream, sometimes two together, sometimes with a few minutes between each
landing.
They have all found the targets ; the flares of the
first machines had lit up the ground for the next few, in fact, at one time
there had been 15 flares over the objective. Then it had got well
alight. The " flak " was intense and accurate, and one or two enemy
aircraft had been seen although no interceptions were made.
An hour after the first machine was back, they had all
landed safely and were comparing notes. The new big bombs had done
tremendous damage. The captain of one "Wellington" said that he saw a
bomb from a preceding machine out an area which he estimated as nearly a
kilometre
across.
That night the communiqué read :
"A heavy attack was made on Bremen by bombers of the
Royal Air Force in fine weather last night. Visibility was extremely
good, and our crews were able to see the effects of their heavy bombs as
they burst on the ship building yards. Very large fires were started.
None of our aircraft is missing."
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