SOUTH AFRICAN 'MOSSIES'

摘要

Too often, reconnaissance pilots are told to soldier on and make do with obsolescent or unsuitable equipment; yet the information they are tasked to acquire is vital to the war. So it was with 60 Squadron of the South African Air Force, based in Libya in the first weeks of 1943. With a fleet of Martin twins (three Baltimores and four Marylands- all of varying serviceability), operational effectiveness was becoming a hit-and-miss affair without taking into account enemy fighters and the weather. A plea by 60's officer commanding (OC), Major Owen Glynn Davies, to General Montgomery, who led the British 8th Army, for Mosquitos had been forwarded to the RAF but was rejected. Davies also sent a request to General Eisenhower to utilise a B-17 Flying Fortress that could use defensive armament to hold the enemy at bay long enough to allow photography. An appeal to the RAF for fighter escorts was refused.