FORCED LANDING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 43, 30 November 1944, Page 5

FORCED LANDING.

NEW ZEALANDERS IN SWEDEN. AFTER RAID ON THE TIRPITZ (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, Nov. 28. By a vote of five to one, the crew of a Lancaster bomber in which were three New Zealanders decided to make a forced landing in Sweden in preference to landing in the North Sea, after they had bombed the Tirpitz in the attack when the German battleship was sunk in Tromso fiord oil November 12. . On the run up to bomb, their Lancaster' was hit by flak, hut not seriously. It was not until after the attack that the starboard inner motor had been cut out, due to a fault in the cooling system, aud the starboard outer motor developed trouble. The New Zealanders, who were on their seventh raid together, were Flying Officer D. A. Coster (Lime Hills), who Was pilot, Flight Sergeants J. H. Boag (Christchurch), who was bomb aimer, and C. W. Black (Mohauiti), who was navigator. The remainder of the crew. Were two Englishmen and a Welshman. Other New Zealanders also m tne raid included Flying Officers .M. !L. T. Harper (Invercargill) and A .W. .Tiplvn (Auckland), and Flight Sergeant “Lofty” Hebbard (Dunedin). “Wei took off at 2 a.m., after attending five'different briefings,” said Flying Officer Coster. “Visibility was good, and we flew fairly low over the North Sea until the coast of Norway was sighted. It was a long trip—more than five hours—to the target, but the monotony was broken over Norway, Where we saw a glorious sunrise lighting up the rugged mountain ranges. We were in the second wave of the attack,' but we. saw few other aircraft until nearing the target, as each flew a separate course. The Tirpitz Sighted. “We first sighted the Tirpitz about seven minutes before we bombed. There was a big . column of smoke, drifting up, indicating that she had already been hit, and we could see flak bursts ahead and gun flashes twinkling like electric lights, both on the Tirpitz and positions on the hills; we manoeuvred for position, and then started our bombing run, which lasted for abput five mihutes, the longest we had made so far. “About two minutes before we dropped our 12,000-pounder, a near burst of flak made our aircraft bump a bit. Pieces of splinter struck the tail turret, the bomb doors, and the port Inner, engine. “But we continued our run without any trouble. On the way we saw what must have been a direct hit on the Tirpitz. When we had dropped our little lot from about 15,000 feet, the* Lancaster rose sharply, but we had no opportunity of seeing what became of our bomb. We were just getting away nicely when the starboard outer motor started to play up and the rear gunner saw smoke pouring from it. Then the starboard inner motor’s cooling system failed, and we had to feather it. With only two good motors and a third working at only half to threequarters power, we had little hope of reaching our base. It was a case of making a forced landing in the North Sea., which is not very attractive in winter, or making for Sweden. “We took a vote on it over the inter-communication system, and set a course for Sweden. En route over Norway we sighted four Focke Wulf 190’s, which probably did not see us, Cor they paid no attention. Then a Messerschmitt 109 put in an appearance and made four attacks, all of which missed. But our Welsh rear gunner got in a few bursts and sent him away with smoke trailing behind, “Not long after reaching Sweden we struck low clouds, so we decided to make a forced landing, and made a holly landing with the wheels up, on a strip of ground by a river. Nobody was hurt, or oven received a scratch, and by the time we got out all the people of a nearby village were swarming round. They gave us a great welcome.” After two days spent at a military camp, the crew went to Stockholm, where they stayed and spent a most enjoyable nine days, wearing civilian clothes, before returning to England. They are now on 21 days’ leave.