SHELL IN BOMB BAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 269, 12 November 1943, Page 3

SHELL IN BOMB BAY

Liberator's Remarkable Escape J Over Rabaul 200 HOLES IX BODY AXD WINGS SYDNEY, Nov. 11. A Liberator leading a bombing run over Rabaul had a remarkable escape when an anti-aircraft shell exploded in its bomb bay, states a Sydney Morning Herald war correspondent in New Guinea. The plane had a full load of fragmentation bombs, none of which exploded, and the shell cut both gasoline and hydraulic fluid lines, releasing inflammable liquid, none of which caught fire. The engineer crawled through the bomb bay and released the jammed bombs one by one. The plane returned to its base with 200 holes in its body and wings. The only casualty was a waist gunner, who was hit in a hip by a shrapnel fragment. "I can understand why the shell did not set the bombs off," said the pilot. Lieutenant Reynolds Craddock, of Kentucky. "They are fused and explode only under certain conditions. But I cannot understand why the gas and hydraulic fluid did not explode. I went into the bomb bay after we were hit, and the stuff was all over the place." The plane was hit just as it was about to drop its load. A few clusters got away, but the explosion jammed the mechanism, and the rest were held in the bay. The engineer, Staff-Sergeant Oscar Sjolin, clambered down and freed the bombs with his bare hands. He then plugged the leaking pipes.