Evening star., 1942-12-06
IS Nozi Fighter Planes Downed
}efore One Fortress Is Lost
Veteran Combat Filler,
Bock From England,
Tells of Action
Nv NELSON M. SHEPARD.

We lost our first Flying Fortress
1ut We destroyed IS German fighter
planes"
BY dint of hard prodding, modest
40-year-old Col. Frank Armstrong
of Richmond, Va, who led the first
group of Bits to 60 into action
over Europe with the United States
Army Air Forces, yesterday cited
this IS to score as indicating what
slim chances even veteran German
pilots have against these four
engined American bombers. The
more timid give them a wide berth
If they can.
Col. Armstrong veteran of the
initial raids on Rouen and Dieppe,
was called back to Washington from
England and will be on duty tenn
porarily in this country to give the
benefit of his combat experiences to
the AAF units here, the War De-
partment said.
Psychologically. those American
flyers making daylight raids around
the-clock over the English Channel,
have learned some tricks from the
Nazi book With Yankee ingenuity
they are adding few tricks of their
own.
That's how the matter Of beer
bottles substituting for bombs came
into the story told by Col. Arm
strong, to whom flying ack-ack is
easy going, apparently, compared to
the ordeal of flying questions.
The beer bottles, he explained.
sound like bombs when dropped
from high attitudes. That is, they
sound like bombs If they are empty
and the men of his crew who
dropped them at Abbeville made
sure they had emptied them first in
the American way. The trick is to
drop the bottles in the tracks of
the bombs. A case of beer bottles,
no doubt, goes off like giant crack
ers when they hit. Anyway. Col,
Armstrong gave the impression that
the enemy thought the sky was
raining tiny bombs.
His hair heavily tinged with
grey, he looks older than his 40
years. Col Armstrong said his home
was really Hobgood, N, C.-"such
a small place it's hardly on the
map" His wife is living in Rich
nond. which is home to him now
He has been flying in the Army
since 1925
1t was the first raid on Rouon that
dispelled the doubts of all skeptics
about the durability and fire. power
of the Flying Fortress.
Although the United States crews,
because of bad weather conditions,
went into their first combat mis-
sions without all the gunnery and
other practice they would have
liked. they made the name of Fly
ing Fortress" one of terror to the
Germans from Rouen on, Col Arm
strong reported.
I'VE made mistakes but We didn't
make the same mistake twice" he
said. The terrific fire-power of the
Bits made the Germans unable to
profit from these errors during the
Rouen raid and every ship came
home.
Signals were muffed and some of
the bombers stayed over-long on
their bombing runs and over their
targets. Ordinarily against a foe
as battlewise as the veteran Ger
man outfits holding the French
coast. such a mistake would have
been fatal he explained Actually
1t was fatal only to the German
attackers"
The result was, Col. Armstrong
went on. although the Germans put
their finest fighters. the Focke-W -Wulf
100, and the best of their pilots up.
the American bombers made IL
raids before they lost their first
plane. That record revised Eu-
ropean concepts of daylight bomb
ing and confirmed our own, opening
a new phase Of the aerial war
throughout the world
Col. Armstrong frankly says he
knows nothing about night raids" ="
He's never been on one.
He dosen't disparage the courage
of German pilots. Despite some re-
ports to the contrary, Col. Arm
strong said he didn't notice that
the Germans we're scared and kept
away from the Bits. Their fav-
orite maneuver was to come in at
about 400 miles an hour, dive at us
and then level eff
In one of these diving attacks, he
said he pulled his bomber up on
her tall and shot the German
down.
Our longest running fight with
the Luftwaffe lasted about 55 min
utes," he said I'VE were jumped
by the German fighters who made
light attack just as we crossed the
coast. Near Abbeville so of the
Focke- -Wuifs swarmed against us
and as many more hit us near the
target We lost no ships but put
down plenty of theirs.
In explaining the 35-to-1 score for
u raids. he said he didn't know how
many other German planes were
damaged. But plenty were" he
added
Although 200 yards is considered
beyond effective range for accurate
aerial gunnery, the American COM
nand pilot said that one OF his
Bits hit and exploded fighter
plane at this extreme range.
Probably just lucky" he OBJ
served" But it has served to in
crease the respect Of German pilots
for our fire-power," he added, Nor
mally. the Germans don't open fire
at ranges. longer than 800 yards
"Our target during the Dieppe
raid was Abbeville, center Of the
German ground-air operations,
Col. Armstrong said. I'VE knocked
out their; radio tower. 1t was two
hours before enemy communication
was restored and then We heard a
new voice over new station"
Col. Armstrong said he didn't
know whether the tail guns in
the new Bills were surprise to
the Germans.
His group made one raid over
Dieppe without any enemy fighter
opposition.