HEAD DOWN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 5

HEAD DOWN

JUMP FRC'M PLANE

N.Z. PILOT IN CRASH DIVE

Hanging head down from an aeroplane while the machine screamed to earth in a death dive, was the terrifying experience of SergeantPilot R. Hargreaves, of Christchurch. '\Vc had almost got hack to base when we realised we were lost" he states m a letter to his mother' "The niter-communication between the crew had been faulty, and when W( L- i e< i \° ass 'stance over the radio telephone set, we found it to be unserviceable.

"We 'stooged. 1 ") round till dusk (6 rso p.m.), but could not find an aerodrome, which is amazing, as there are dozens hereabout. I, as cantain of the aircraft, had to decide whether to crash-land. I still had 120 gallons of gas. so I decided to stay up. About 6.4 a p.m. we saw an aerodrome beacon We circled it and attempted to get the location of the 'drome but we used the wrong procedure so did not cet any help. About 730 I realised our petrol was getting lowso 1 climbed up to 8000 feet flvine eastwards towards the coast "When I got up there, Y ordered the crew to bale out after doing the necessary cockpit drill. Ken went out smartly and finished up hanging in a tree, unhurt. He go', down O.K. and went to a little cottage, the inhabitants of which took him to a hie manor where he was admitted bv a butler. J

"They gave him half a tumbler of whisky, numerous fags and a grand supper of pheasant. While he was in the manor, six blokes who had baled out of a Wellington also trooped in at. about ten minute intervals Some blokes have ALL the luck'

"The observer had a hit of trouble Retting his seat, which covers the escape hatch, folded against the side of the piano, but finally I saw his feet disappear into the black void The plane was now at 7000 feet and behaving beautifully when I decided to get out. I removed my helmet trimmed her slightly nose heavy' took a last look round, and made sure that the crew had got out O K then went forward and knelt by the hatch.

Hanging | n Sparc "Tu hp , ri /> , cnr(l is supposed to clip on the left breast of the 'Mae West' by means of domes, but I had experienced difficulty in putting it on. .so had loft. it. trailing—knowing I had plenty of height to retrieve it before hitting mother earth. I next attempted to make a crafty exit as per instructions, i.e., dive through head first, but as I was half-way through, the observer's seat slipped down and trapped my posterior, legs and chute, and left me hanginc head down, in space. "The extra drag of the air on my body, pulled the nose of the aircraft clown, and she went into a dive, which got steeper and steeper. The engines began to shriek and the slipstream, which was terrific, attempted to blow me out—but the seat held me fast. While I was struggling to free myself, I recall seeing a lot of the parachute silk — whether it opened because the ripcord caught in something, or whether the seat ripped the chute cover off, I don't know. I could look back along the belly of the aeroplane, and see the wheel against the stars. "With a sudden blast, I was free, and spinning and twisting in all directions. I felt a thud on my leg, and heard a whoosh! as the aeroplane went by, I was groping dizzily for the ripcord when I felt a couple of jerks and a swaying motion which gradually ceased. My left leg was giving me hell—r though it was broken—but it was only bruised, I learnt later. I heard the aeroplane screaming down, then a flash as she burst into flames, then silence, except for the flapping of the canopy. I looked up at it and found to my horror that I was hanging from only one strap. The tongue in the metal alip which joins the harness to the shroud had broken on the right side, so aH my weight was on my left thigh. Of course I seized smartly on to that strap and held on for dear life.

It was a very pleasant sensation —suspended in the cool darkness— until I started spinning one way. then unwinding the other—but I stopped that by extending my right arm and leg.

Bumpy Landing

"On looking down I saw a dark H l3 ® B 'beneath me, (a prickly hedge), and further on the left a line of trees. I seemed to accelerate with great rapidity, and had just managed to draw up my knees before I hit the ground with a hell of a thud, which completely winded me. I lay tnere gaping and groaning for a pit, then sat up and counted my broken bones (there was none). A feeling of elation came over me, and I thanked Heaven for a narrow squeak.

{ g°t up and stumbled around «i . /ound an opening from the Held and was about half-way down a cart track when I was met by some civilians who had seen me floating flown. They directed me to an aerodrome, about two miles away. I immediately contacted base and told them the sad story. They told me to write a report. As I wrote my report I got the news that Ken was safe. About 11.40 I rang up base again, and they informed me that the observer had turned up 0.K., which was a load off my mind. I then had a bath and retired, where I slept until 8 a.m. They sent a transport flown to collect us and took us back to base, where we had to tell the story to everyone from the Group Captain and Wing Commander down."