BOMBING
The targets this year were one well camouflaged emplacement with a fake fighter-sized plane inside and one tank as a mobile target. Each pilot could freely choose which targets to hit and he had two runs to drop his bombs and two strafing passes with the gun camera on the aircraft. Bombing height and method of delivery was left to the pilot’s discretion. The bombs were two 12.5lb smoke bombs. The weather was fine with high cloud and a gentle northerly wind. Two 37mm AA guns were firing practice tracer rounds to put off the pilots and generally show if their bombing runs were effective or not.
The pilots entered for the bombing contest (limited to fighters that can carry bombs and have trained pilots) bombed in number order.
Planes: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 44, 46, 47 and 48
Major de Aero Valdez bombed first; he made a 50 degree dive from 15,000 feet, making his aim at the emplacement. He dropped his bombs at 700 feet and pulled out at 400 feet. Both bombs overshot by 3 metres. He made two excellent strafing runs however against the tank. Major de Aero Carlos Cisco followed with a similar dive from 17,000 feet and he dropped his bombs at 900 feet but missed by a large margin. He made one good and one fair strafing run. Captain Peters in the twin-engined CAC-39 made a forty degree dive and dropped one bomb at 1,500 feet which undershot by nine metres. He then jinked to avoid the tracer fire and made another run in at 40 feet at high speed which scored a direct hit with the second bomb. He then made two excellent strafing passes against the tank with good jinking to avoid the AA tracer fire.
Rear Admiral Breton was next to make his bombing run. He made a fifty degree dive from 18,000 feet releasing both bombs at 14,000 feet which resulted in one near miss and one miss 15m over. He then made two strafing run against the emplacement, which were both rated as very good. First Lieutenant Joachim Edid made a seventy degree dive pulling out at 1,500 feet. One bomb hit the emplacement and the other was just 2 metres short. He made two very low strafing runs against the tank with some good defensive manoeuvring. Captain Antilles made a low fast pass at 100 feet dropping one bomb first on the emplacement which bounced over; he then strafed the tank while making his second run which scored a near miss at just 50 feet altitude. Antilles then made another strafing run against the emplacements; both strafing runs were judged as accurate. Comandante Alencar made a very low fast attack, one bomb was 4 metres short and the made a direct hit on the dummy plane. He then made one good strafing run. Capitão Santos flying the other Brazilian Milan tried some ‘skip-bombing’ and dropped both bombs so they bounced into the emplacement, unfortunately his timing was slightly off and both tumbled over the emplacement but landed within 5 metres. He made two excellent strafing runs on the moving tank.
Thai Navy pilot Captain Kamol Arthit being a bombing specialist was eager to repeat his performance this year and made two dives, one at fifty and one at sixty degrees and both bombs scored a direct hit on the emplacement. Both strafing runs were against the tank and they were judged to be very good. His teammate Jainukul in the Fw190 made a shallow thirty degree dive and both bombs landed just short of the target but were within three metres. He made one strafing run against the emplacement. The AA gun crew however judged that they shot him down owing to his poor approach without sufficient jinking. Oberleutnant Heinrich Bär made a very low 50 feet attack and strafed and bombed the emplacement on each run, the first attack was very good and the bomb hit the plane inside the emplacement, the second bomb was three metres over. His teammate Feldwebel Anton Hafner made his attack on the tank, both bombs missed by about four metres but it was an impressive performance against a moving target. The strafing runs were judged as excellent. The Yugoslav pilot Captain Mihailo Bodi dived at 50 degrees and released both bombs at 800 feet just pulling out in time but both bombs were a near-miss. His first strafing run against the tank was average but the second was rated very good. Lieutenant Djorde Popovic followed this up with a seventy degree dive releasing both bombs at 1,000 feet but both bombs went wide. His strafing run against the tank was rated as very good.
Sauvage flying the Mistral made a very elegant diving attack and dropped his bombs in a shallow dive, one undershot and one was just 1 metre short. He then made two excellent high-energy strafing runs with good accuracy. Comandante Carlos Matta made a fast pass strafing and dropping both bombs on the same run. The bombs both overshoot, one by as much as 10 metres. The strafing was judged t e accurate though. His teammate Mistral made a fifth degree dive from 16,000 feet and made a rather low pull-out but both bombs were rated as hits. Both strafing runs were judged as good but judge’s points were lost due to his rather flat approach near the AA gun.
Lt. Colonel Tyrus "Bulldog" Hadrian dived at 60 degrees angle releasing one bomb at 3,000 feet which missed the first emplacement by 12 metres. The second dive was at 55 degrees and he released at 800 feet this time scoring a near-miss of 3 metres. His first strafing pass against the emplacement was excellent but the second against the moving tank was judged inaccurate. Yarbay Gökçen made an excellent dive from 15,000 feet releasing both bombs from 2,000 feet and both bombs drifting some 16 metres wide; her strafing runs against the tank were rated good. Vecihi Hürku followed and made a horizontal bombing run at 50 feet but the skip-bombing again was misjudged and both bombs leapt harmlessly over the target. Both strafing runs were judged to be excellent. Captain Kenan Sunay made a 70 degree dive and dropped his bombs at 2,800 feet and both missed. He only made one strafing run against the tank which was judged as being good. Tural in the other Sp-40 made two combined strafes and bomb drops against the tank, the first bomb landing 5m short and the other was further away but it was a fine effort against a moving target. The strafing was judged as very good.
The Italian Barton made a fast pass dropping one bomb which was a near-miss and then pulled up to make a shallow dive with the second bomb. It overshot but was within 5 metres and his strafing was judged very good. Sacconi attempted a skip-bombing run and he got both bombs to land directly into the emplacement. He made one excellent strafing run. The American Boyington made good use of his rugged Corsair to make a seventy degree dive to score one hit and one near miss and he made two excellent strafing runs against the tank. Porucik Lidiya Ivanova in the rugged Fairey Firefly entered the dive at 15,000 feet releasing both bombs from 2,750 feet and both bombs drifted some 18 metres wide; her strafing runs against the tank were rated excellent as the Firefly proved a stable platform. Captain Huber made his first ever bombing contest appearance at Talons. He missed with both bombs from shallow dives but made one good strafing run. Gehrig did a little better with one near-miss within 4 metres and he made two very good strafing passes on the emplacement. Kapitán Karel Kuttelwascher was last to compete and he dropped his bombs in a dive from 2,000 feet but both bombs landed about 15m over, both strafing runs were very low and judged good. The top ten point scoring places in order went to; Arthrit, Sacconi, Santos, Mistral, Boyington, Edid, Alencar, Bär, Peters and Sauvage.
FINAL SCORE
After totting up the points and successes the top three pilots were;
1) RCNAS Captain Reginald Antilles was awarded the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
2) Capitano Sacconi was awarded the Silver Albatross Trophy
3) Capitaine Edmond Marin La Meslee was awarded the Pilot’s Silver Plate
The Gold Eagle Winged Trophy for the Grand Duel Winner was awarded to Lieutenant Ilmari Juutilainen
The judges also awarded a Silver Medal to, Vecihi Hürku, Enseigne Roger Sauvage, Yarbay Sabiha Gökçen and Major de Aero Cisco whose skill enabled them to compete to a very high standard.
The Aviones de Militar Trophy for outstanding piloting skill was awarded to Flt. Lt. Jonnie Johnson whose piloting skill enabled him to reach the Grand Duel and come second in that event despite having one of the slowest and least powerful fighters at Talons.
The Lieutenant Y. Yucuman Memorial Trophy to the pilot who succeeded against the worst odds has been awarded again to Captain Kamol Arthit who despite his relatively low-powered fighter still flew with skill and kept on going despite the odds against him and succeeding in the bombing completion to achieve a respectable score.
The points table:
RCNAS Captain Reginald Antilles 45
Capitano Sacconi 42
Capitaine Edmond Marin La Meslee 38
Vecihi Hürku 37
Enseigne Roger Sauvage 33
Yarbay Sabiha Gökçen 32
Major de Aero Cisco 29
Flt. Lt. Jonnie Johnson 27
Capitano Barton 27
Capitão Manoel Santos 25
Capitan de Corbeta Patricio Mistral 25
Comandante Gaspar Alencar 24
Captain Kenan Sunay 23
Flt. Capt. Bertus Brase 22
Flt. Capt. Emil Trubshaw 22
Lieutenant Ilmari Juutilainen 21
Flt. Lt. Bob Stanford Tuck 20
First Lieutenant Joachim Edid 20
Capt. Andreas Schrieber 20
Oberleutnant Heinrich Bär 19
Lt. Colonel Tyrus "Bulldog" Hadrian 19
Second Lieut Gregory Boyington 19
Rear Admiral Carlos Castillo Breton 18
Major de Aero Valdez 15
Captain Kamal Arthrit 15
Colonel Fabris "Jester" Lavidicus 15
Kapitan Dobri Kolarov 15
RCNAS Commander Mark Stele 14
Stabsfeldwebel Anton Hafner 13
Lt. Bo Qvist 13
Capt. José Fernandez-Hermosa 13
Comandante Carlos Matta 13
Flight Lieutenant Nurettin Tural 12
Porucik Lidiya Ivanova 12
Capitan Maurice Huber 12
Captain Robert (Bobby) Gibbes 11
Major Amnuay Jainukul 10
Episminagos Ionnis Leventis 10
Lt. Marcel Gehrig 10
Lieutenant Djorde Popovic 9
Major Henry Pillichody 9
Second Lieut. Charles H. MacDonald 9
Captain Peters 8
Capt. Sanchez-Arjona Courtoy 8
Teniente Delfín Torres Duran 8
Captain Mihailo Bodi 7
Kapitán Karel Kuttelwascher 7
Group Captain Otto Larsen 6
Antonio Allegro’s Press Cuttings
Past Winners
1931
Colonel Oonishi "Crash" Manzo won the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Colonel "Oni" Goto Sachio won the Silver Albatross Trophy
Captain Dominic Balbossa who won the Pilot’s Silver Plate
1932
Lt Colonel Ringu Yii won the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Maj. Gen Carron-Gomez won the Silver Albatross Trophy
de Benardi won the Pilot’s Silver Plate
Argentine pilot 1st Lieutenant Y. Yucuman was killed during the speed event that year. He had finished his high speed run in the FMA I-100 and looped the loop to please the crowd when his starboard wing dropped and he spun into the ground crashing into a hangar and igniting two parked fuel tankers. His death gave rise to the Lieutenant Y. Yucuman Memorial Trophy.
1933
Engineer Lascurain won the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
de Benardi won the Silver Albatross Trophy
Marco Alabastro won the Pilot's Silver Plate
1934
Fluglieutenant Werner Moelders won the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
General Ernst Udet won the Silver Albatross Trophy
Major Doolittle won the Pilot's Silver Plate
1935
Event not held
1936
Lt. Bart Hawk won the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Colonel Ling Chunhua won the Silver Albatross Trophy
Flight Capitan Castro won the Pilot’s Silver Plate
That year de Benardi was killed in the FIAT G.50 when his fighter was hit by compressibility problems and his tailplane broke up
1937
Captain C.F. J. Boers & Wing Commander Endress tied on points and so both won a Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Fluglieutenant Adolph Galland won the Silver Albatross Trophy
Lt. Bart Hawk won the Pilot’s Silver Plate
1938
Colonel Fabris Lavidicus was awarded the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Flugkapitan Werner Molders was awarded the Silver Albatross Trophy
Flying Officer T.B McGowan was awarded the Pilot’s Silver Plate
1939
Fluglieutenant Adolph Galland was awarded the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
General de BA Bergamini was awarded the Silver Albatross Trophy
Fluglieutenant Walter Oesau was awarded the Pilot’s Silver Plate
1940
Tenente Salvi was awarded the Gold Talon Eagle Trophy
Capt. José Fernandez-Hermosa was awarded the Silver Albatross Trophy
Vecihi Hürku was awarded the Pilot’s Silver Plate