COURAGE UNDER FIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 138, 13 June 1941, Page 7

COURAGE UNDER FIRE

CZECH BOMBER CREW

ATTACK ON HAMBURG

RUGBY, June 11

A story of the courage of the CzechoSlovakian crew of an R.A.F. bomber during a recent attack on Hamburg is told in London.

Within five miles of the town a searchlight picked up the aircraft, and by the time it reached the target area it was transfixed in a cone of 30 searchlights. Shells began to burst all around the bomber, and a few small splinters bit the starboard wing and the starboard side of the fuselage. The damage was not serious, and the Czecho-Slovak crew kept on their way. through the ever-increasing barrage. The captain kept a steady course, and made a bombing run without taking any evasive action which might have prevented accurate aim by the observer. The aircraft was hit twice.

The captain heard the sound of breaking glass, and felt a pain in his side. Though almost fainting, he kept at the controls and managed to keep the aircraft steady, open the bomb doors." and follow the changes of course given him by the bomb-aimer.

As the aircraft continued on the bombing run, it was hit again and again. Two shell fragments went through the pilot's cockpit without hurting anyone, and another fragment destroyed the wireless equipment, but the captain still held on his course till the bombs were gone. Then he toolviolent evasive action and shook off the pursuing searchlights.

When he a'ot well away from Hamburg, the captain handed the controls to the second pilot, and the navigator i\nd the wireless operator helped him to a ounk in the middle of the aircraft. The controls were working sluggishly, and the hydraulic system had "been put out of action. Without the hydraulic system it was impossible to lower the undercarriage, and the second pilot, who was making nis first operational flight, had to make a belly landing when he reached the base. There were 93 holes in the wings and fuselage, and more in the bottom of the fuselage.—B.O.W.