AERIAL CAPTURE OF U-BOAT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 295, 10 September 1941, Page 8

AERIAL CAPTURE OF U-BOAT

Extraordinary Coup Described < FORTY-HOUR VIGIL •« (Biri’tLsli*-- Official Wireless.) '(Received.Septembef 9, 7 p.m.) ‘jRiUGBY, September S. Ai description of- a long vigil by aircraft, of'the C&st\il Command which the. capture of a U-boat —th? first timefthat'a’land aircraft has performed. such a‘feat—and the account ef that-capture make one of the', most interesting stories of aerial warfare. A Hudson bomber, complete!}’ unaided, held the U-boat in sight for nearly four hours., A Catalina flyingboat then arrived and acted as the jailer, assisted by other Hudsons and Catalinas, for nearly 10 hours more. The Hudson had been on patrol ever tlie Atlantic since early morning. Visibility was poor and there were frequent rainstorms. Suddenly there was a shout from the navigator’s cabin in the nose: "There’s one just in front of you,” and there, about 1200 yards away.on the port bow, was the U-boat. The pilot thrust the nose of the aircraft down and dived. At exactly the right moment bombs were dropped, and the pilot turned steeply ana climbed. Below him he could see a wide area of churned waves, and as he watched there was another shout from everybody in the plane. The U-boat Lad come to the surface. Guns Panic Germans.

The Hudson dived again, and this time the front guns, near the turret and the belly-gun blazed. As the bomber was diving the U-boat’s conning,lower hatch was thrown open ami about a dozen of the crew scrambled out and dropped on to the deck. The Hudson’s crew thought they were manning the guns, so they kept their own guns firing hard. This was too much for the Germans. Those who ’were already on deck turned and ran back into the conning tower, and.those who were coming up from below . still tried to push their way out, becoming mixed up together. All the figures seemed to be capless, and they were distinctly visible from above for they were all wearing bright yellow life-saving, jackets. Four times the Hudson roared over, its guns screaming, banking steeply tach time to swing round into the attack again while the rear guns and the belly-gun kept up the fire. When the plane was coming round for the- fifth attack, however, the Üboat surrendered. One of its crew held a white, shirt up from the conning tower, waving' it violently. The airmen ceased' fire, ' but continued to circle with, the guns trained, watching suspiciously. The Germans followed them anxiously round with the shirt, and then, to-make their intentions quite clear, held up what appeared to be some sort of white board. Guard Duty Begins.

"They have shpved the white flag up,” called the wireless operator, triumphantly. The Hudson flew right over the U-boat at about 50 feet, and by then the entire U-boat crew had crowded on to the conning tower — some 30 or 40 of them. They were packed so tightly that they could scarcely move. The problem now was how to hold them prisoner and get them taken into custody. The navigator prepared a message for the base, and the wireless operator’s hand rattled up and down on the key. All this time-the pilot was circling the U-boat, keeping his eyes glued on it, and he did that for three hours and a half. Had he lost sight of it, if only for a second, he might easily have lost it altogether, and when at last he stepped on to his home aerodrome his neck was so stiff that he could not turn his Jjead.

The message reached the base, and it was determined to bring that U-boat and its crew to shore if it were humanly possible. Never before in history had an .under-water craft surrendered to a land aircraft. A . Catalina was sent at once to relieve the Hudson, and all. other aircraft in the vicinity were diverted over the U-boat from time to time to demonstrate to the crew that there was a big striking force ready if they tried to escape. The Catalina arrived early in the afternoon, and when ■ the Hudson's crew saw it approaching they were afraid it might bomb "and sink the U-boat, so they signalled anxiously to it: "Look after our (repeat: our) submarine which has shown the white flag.” The Hudson dived twice more over “their U-boat” to have a last look at it, and then it was the Catalina’s turn to circle endlessly. Difficult Night Vigil. They kept it up for eight hours without having to firei a single shot. Surface craft were steaming toward the spot as quickly as possible, but they were a long way off yet, and the. question was would they get there before nightfall? The weather was growing worse and daylight was fading, and there was a very strong chance of losing the U-boat during the night. The Catalina crew were growing desperate; but at the last moment they sighted one of His Majesty’s ships, which steamed up and started to signal orders to the Üboat crew. Then came darkness and the Catalina lost touch with the U-boat. Long before daylight on the next day, however, another Coastal Command Catalina was in the area continuing the vigil. By now a gale was blowing. The night was jet black and rainstorms lashed everywhere. In the darkness they could pick up a glow of light from the submarine. Then so fierce was the gale that they were blown off their course and lost her again, but very soon they saw her reflected in the dim light through the storm with the white foam of waves breaking across her bows. Throughout the remaining hours of darkness the Catalina, continued to circle, sometimes losing sight of the U-boat for as much as 15 minutes, but always finding her again. At last light began to break, and the crew could just see the thin outline of the submarine, and as the light strengthened they could make out a ship lying nearby and soon they saw other ships approaching. The Catalina crew watched the beginning of the long task of getting the U-boat„and her crew to harbour. The U-boat? had been covered from the air by Coastal Command aircraft for -10 hours.