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W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-09-11 Letter #25
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slug-Balloons and-4 Note: Flying bombs have fallen in England since the following article was released by British censorship. That the article was released, however, was indication that British officials felt the main menace had been cleared with the sweep through France. By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 25 Passed for Publication 11 Sep 1944 Cantebury, England--With the battle against the robot bomb definitely won, I am permitted in this letter to tell you more about what I've seen today than would have been possible as recently as a week ago. I've passed through the arc of balloons credited with bringing down 15 per cent of Hitler's 8,000 robots and I've inspected at close range a battery of anti-aircraft guns which performed with an even greater effectiveness. The one part of the 3-element defense against the fly bombs which I haven't seen is the force of fighter planes which operated out over the channel. They sent hundreds of the robots crashing into the water. As we moved along on the train to a south coast port city, we passed through literally hundreds of the balloons, glistening in the morning sun, held by a central cable and with other cables dangling earthward. These balloons constituted the last line of defense. Through a scientific spacing, they were intended to block the path of the robombs which successfully penetrated the fighter plane and the ack-ack defense. Up to this time a principal use of these balloons had been to prevent low-level divebomb attacks on London and elsewhere. Each bag represents a very sizable investment and many considered them an unwise expense. Now, however, their critics have been confounded. In their performance against the robot bombs, they have more than justified themselves. Immediately at the base of some of the balloons are bomb craters, caused by square hits of the buzzbomb planes into the cables. All of them, of course, are situated in the open country. There was no point, of course, in bringing down a bomb over a heavily populated area. That's why the fighter planes did their stuff out over the channel. More often, however, the flying planes would hit the cables with one wing and be diverted from their course toward the sprawling London target. In such cases, for the most part, the bombs would be exploded without great damage. The crews of fighter planes in their attacks on the robots--usually from above so they could cope with the 350 to 400 (miles per hour?) speeds of the pilotless craft--sought to damage them rather than explode them in midair for the reason that such an explosion created a grave danger to their own craft. The battery of ack-ack guns I visited was manned by American boys. From one of the officers I received a "play-by-play" description of the technique employed, including the important part played by special range-finding equipment. By arrangement the fighter planes operated in a certain assigned zone over the channel. At a given distance the shore-based guns took over. Usually the kill could be accomplished far enough out to prevent the blast from coming too close to the implacements. When this wasn't possible, the job was left to the balloons. Crews manning the guns operated on an around-the-clock basis. Their willingness to forego sleep and leaves has won the grateful appreciation of all in the London area who profited from it. The detailed story of their performance is going to make interesting reading some day. At a beach nearby I saw children playing in the sand and bathing in a stretch of surf only lately cleared of mines. It was cold--oh, so cold. It makes me shiver to think of it. But to the English, deprived of this sort of thing for five years, it was a grand and glorious feeling. Take the case of our host, Tim Henley. He lives in a city 30 miles from the coast. He has 2 children--a boy of 10 and a girl of 5. Neither of them can remember ever having seen a banana. Neither can remember ever having seen a street light. The daughter has never seen the ocean, not as far away as Hampton is from Mason City. The defeat of the flying bomb has brought appreciably nearer the day when the lights will go on again all over the world. -- 30--
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slug-Balloons and-4 Note: Flying bombs have fallen in England since the following article was released by British censorship. That the article was released, however, was indication that British officials felt the main menace had been cleared with the sweep through France. By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor Letter No. 25 Passed for Publication 11 Sep 1944 Cantebury, England--With the battle against the robot bomb definitely won, I am permitted in this letter to tell you more about what I've seen today than would have been possible as recently as a week ago. I've passed through the arc of balloons credited with bringing down 15 per cent of Hitler's 8,000 robots and I've inspected at close range a battery of anti-aircraft guns which performed with an even greater effectiveness. The one part of the 3-element defense against the fly bombs which I haven't seen is the force of fighter planes which operated out over the channel. They sent hundreds of the robots crashing into the water. As we moved along on the train to a south coast port city, we passed through literally hundreds of the balloons, glistening in the morning sun, held by a central cable and with other cables dangling earthward. These balloons constituted the last line of defense. Through a scientific spacing, they were intended to block the path of the robombs which successfully penetrated the fighter plane and the ack-ack defense. Up to this time a principal use of these balloons had been to prevent low-level divebomb attacks on London and elsewhere. Each bag represents a very sizable investment and many considered them an unwise expense. Now, however, their critics have been confounded. In their performance against the robot bombs, they have more than justified themselves. Immediately at the base of some of the balloons are bomb craters, caused by square hits of the buzzbomb planes into the cables. All of them, of course, are situated in the open country. There was no point, of course, in bringing down a bomb over a heavily populated area. That's why the fighter planes did their stuff out over the channel. More often, however, the flying planes would hit the cables with one wing and be diverted from their course toward the sprawling London target. In such cases, for the most part, the bombs would be exploded without great damage. The crews of fighter planes in their attacks on the robots--usually from above so they could cope with the 350 to 400 (miles per hour?) speeds of the pilotless craft--sought to damage them rather than explode them in midair for the reason that such an explosion created a grave danger to their own craft. The battery of ack-ack guns I visited was manned by American boys. From one of the officers I received a "play-by-play" description of the technique employed, including the important part played by special range-finding equipment. By arrangement the fighter planes operated in a certain assigned zone over the channel. At a given distance the shore-based guns took over. Usually the kill could be accomplished far enough out to prevent the blast from coming too close to the implacements. When this wasn't possible, the job was left to the balloons. Crews manning the guns operated on an around-the-clock basis. Their willingness to forego sleep and leaves has won the grateful appreciation of all in the London area who profited from it. The detailed story of their performance is going to make interesting reading some day. At a beach nearby I saw children playing in the sand and bathing in a stretch of surf only lately cleared of mines. It was cold--oh, so cold. It makes me shiver to think of it. But to the English, deprived of this sort of thing for five years, it was a grand and glorious feeling. Take the case of our host, Tim Henley. He lives in a city 30 miles from the coast. He has 2 children--a boy of 10 and a girl of 5. Neither of them can remember ever having seen a banana. Neither can remember ever having seen a street light. The daughter has never seen the ocean, not as far away as Hampton is from Mason City. The defeat of the flying bomb has brought appreciably nearer the day when the lights will go on again all over the world. -- 30--
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