U-BOAT HUNTING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 74, 29 March 1943, Page 2

U-BOAT HUNTING

DRAMATIC STORIES DISGUISED NAZI LINERS (0.C.) SYDNEY, March 26. Dramatic stories of U-boat hunting in the Atlantic were told by Flight-Lieutenant Graham Pockley, D.F.C., Australian anti-submarine airman, who has returned home after an adventurous career with Australia's No. 10 (Sunderlands) Squadron. Because of his successes against Axis submarines off the southern tip of the Bay of Biscay, his companions have given the name of "Pockley's Corner" to that part of the Atlantic Ocean. Submarine hunting, he said, was something like trout fishing—it was an art. "You have to study the habits, tactics and tricks of the Üboat commanders," he declared. He said the Germans were using liners disguised as innocent-looking neutrals to elude the British hunters. They bristled with guns. "We flew over one of these boats once and dropped a flare," he said. "In reply he threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. After we dropped all we had on him he steamed slowly into a neutral port, badly damaged, with many dead and wounded among the crew."

At Pockley's Corner he once sighted a supply vessel and a U-boat. The Sunderland flying boat damaged the submarine as it crash-dived. The German supply ship was flying a British ensign and had R.A.F. markings. Flight-Lieutenant Pockley pretended to be deceived and waggled his wings. Suddenly he dived to mast height and scored two heavy hits, after which the ship's speed was reduced from 17 to four knots. Took Huns by Surprise Rounding Pockley's Corner, the Sunderland detected a German submarine. The flying boat hid in the clouds and then dived, taking the U-boat completely by surprise. "Just as it was, submerging we hit it with a string of depth charges," Flight-Lieutenant Pockley said. "We could see every inch of the submarine under the water. Our depth charges cut it in halves. Then it blew up." On another occasion Pockley shadowed an Italian submarine for two hours, while his armourer, Leading-Aircraftman Bob Scott, of Melbourne, transferred heavy bombs from the port to the starboard racks after the racks had become jammed. "This was quite an interesting day," his diary records. "The submarine was a big fellow, and he kept throwing up flak all the time. We had over 100 holes in the fuselage when we got back home. "Every time I tried to get into position the submarine zig-zagged. Then I came in from 2000 ft, diving steeply. When a few feet above his conning tower we got home with a whole stick. All his plates were torn open on the port side, and he lay motionless. A big wave washed nearly all the crew overboard, and then the sub. sank like a stone."