21 Août 1940
Northern Front
The day is very quiet on the northern front. No.223 (RAF) Squadron is ordered to prepare for its return to Sudan the next day[1], while No.203 (RAF) Squadron undergoes a change of command with the arrival of Squadron Leader A.L.H. Solano.[2]
Southern Front
This end of August is especially marked by what the South Africans have described as Bomber Offensive, that is to say, a vast campaign of bombing (to be relativised by the limited aircrafts available) aimed at Italian airfields in Somalia and southern Ethiopia in order to eliminate the Regia Aeronautica. Thus, from 19 August to 30 November, the SAAF performs about 200 bombing sorties and 800 reconnaissance sorties. It begins on 19 August when SAAF launches sixteen No.11 and No.12 (SAAF) Squadron aircraft on four different targets.
The second series begins, on 21 August, when nine Fairey Battle Mk I of No.11 (SAAF) Squadron depart for Mogadishu in three formations of three aircraft at half an hour apart.
Fairey Battle of No.11 (SAAF) Squadron at Archers Post. Collection : SAAF Museum, via Tinus le Roux
If the former are forced to cancel the attack due to heavy cloud cover, the other six are able to drop twenty-four 250-lb bombs. The bombardment is a success since the crews claim three Caproni Ca.133 destroyed, six heavily damaged, as well as various material damage on the airfield (five Caproni Ca.133 would indeed have been destroyed). The air defense is however intense and at least two aircraft are damaged: No. 905 and 913 (Lieutnants Cornelius A. van Vliet and W.J.B. Chapman being wounded[3]).[4]
Lieutnants Cornelius Arthur van Vliet – No.11 (SAAF) Squadron. The photo is taken later in North Africa, while serving as a fighter pilot in No.1 (SAAF) Squadron. Collection: Tinus le Roux –SAAF WW2 Heritage
For its part, No.40 (SAAF) Squadron sends three Hartbees to attack Italian positions, on the road to Moyale, where forty 20-lb bombs are dropped.[5]
[1] « 21 august 1940 » 223 Squadron RAF : Operations Record Book (Form 540 and Form 541), op. cit.
[2] « 21 august 1940 » 203 Squadron RAF : Operations Record Book (Form 540 and Form 541), Kew – TNA, AIR 27 / 1198.
[3] A noter que les différentes sources diffèrent s’agissant de l’appareil dans lequel le Lieutnant W.J.B. Chapman était présent. Ainsi, selon, J.-A. Brown, A gathering of eagles, the campaigns of the South African Air Force in Italian East Afica (1940 – 1941), Cape Town, Purnell, coll. « South African Forces World War II », 1970, p. 60 ; P.D. Tidy, « Major Cornelius Arthur van Vliet, DFC », in Military History Journal, vol. 2, no 6, Décembre 1976, http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol026dt.html, une fois blessé, celui-ci aurait confié l’appareil photo à l’Air Sergeant Wright. Or, selon l’operation order n°14, l’Air Sergeant Wright était dans un autre appareil, 11 Bomber Squadron SAAF, War Dirary, Kew – TNA, AIR 54 / 3.
[4] « 21 august 1940 » 11 Bomber Squadron SAAF, War Dirary, op. cit.; « 21 august 1940 » Narrative northern operations SAAF, August 1940, op. cit.; J.-A. Brown, A gathering of eagles, the campaigns of the South African Air Force in Italian East Afica (1940 – 1941), op. cit., p. 59 à 60; C. Shores et C. Ricci, Dust Clouds in the Middle East, op. cit., p. 56; J. Sutherland et D. Canwell, Air War East Africa, the RAF versus the Italian Air Force, op. cit., p. 64; P.D. Tidy, « Major Cornelius Arthur van Vliet, DFC », op. cit.
[5] « 21 august 1940 » 40 Squadron SAAF, Repport on recce sorties, juillet – decembre 1940, op. cit.; « 21 august 1940 » Narrative northern operations SAAF, August 1940, op. cit.
