CRIPPLED BOMBER’S PLIGHT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 51, 24 November 1941, Page 8

CRIPPLED BOMBER’S PLIGHT

Return From Air Raid (British Official Wireless.) (Received November 22, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, November 22. With one wing partially shot away while returning from a raid over Germany, and with the starboard engine out of action, a AVhitley bomber struggled home and brought its crew safely back. For more than 200 miles the second pilot kept the aircraft from finally slipping into the sea. It hit the water several times. , “We couldn’t maintain height,” the captain said, ‘ ap’d not far from the Dutch coast we' actually hit the sea. The tail struck the water, but the second pilot brought it up again and we climbed to 200 feet. That’s the way it went all the way, first going up to 200 feet and then down to about 50 feet, and sometimes touching the waves.

“We threw everything loose overboard except the guns. At last we saw the English coastline. The second pilot shut off the petrol, and with the undercarriage up and the flaps useless, he had to glide on to the beach to make a safe landing. “I had an idea there were mines about, so told the crew to stay put while we tired the guns and Verey light to attract attention. 1 got out an'd waded through the water, and then saw soldiers coining with to.mmyguns Their captain wouldn’t believe I was English at first, because I was wearing a new suit and had no wings on it. He took me back to the AVhitley. Then he told us we bad escaped landmines by a few feet.”