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A reporter describes the scene as an Allied convoy comes under attack from the air.
Well now Germans are dive-bombing a convoy out into sea…there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven German dive-bombers - Junkers 87s - there's one going down on its target now…bang…no, missed the ship, so he hasn't hit a single ship…there are about 10 ships in the convoy…but he hasn't hit a single one…there you can hear our anti-aircraft going at them now…there are one, two, three, four, five, six…there are about 10 German machines dive-bombing the British convoy…which is just out to sea in the Channel…I can't see anything…no…we thought a German one had been got then…but now the British fighters are coming up…there's one coming down in flames…there's somebody's hit a German…and he's coming down…there's a long streak…he's coming down completely out of control…a long streak of smoke…oh ah, the man's bailed out by parachute, the pilot's bailed out by parachute…he's a Junkers 87 and he's going slap into the sea…and there he goes - SMASH! There was only one man got out by parachute so presumably there was only a crew of one in it.
A reporter describes the scene as an Allied convoy comes under attack from the air.
BBC war correspondent, Charles Gardner, recorded this commentary on 14 July 1940 when he witnessed an aerial engagement between the RAF and German dive-bombers attacking a convoy in the English Channel.
When it was broadcast it caused something of an uproar. Many people in Britain felt that such an eye-witness account was too dramatic, was inappropriate to be broadcast as 'news' and reduced a life-and-death struggle between combatants to the level of a sporting contest.
What reaction would it get today?
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