HUNTING U-BOATS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21149, 17 July 1943, Page 4

HUNTING U-BOATS

N'.Z: FLYING-BOAT PILOT TOBRUK TO ARCHANGEL raiders fear planes (By. Telegraph—Presa Assn.- —Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (11a.m.) LONDON. July 16. Among prominent New Zealanders in the Coastal Command is SquadronLeader T. O. Marshall, D.F.C., of Stratford, who has completed 2000 operational hours in Sunderland and Catalina flying-boats. His longest flight was 27 hours in a Catalina during the pursuit of the battleship Bismarck. , „ . . Squadron-Leader Marshall is in a squadron which was moved fV°m Singapore to the Mediterranean the day war was declared. He took part in the evacuation of Greece and Crete. Once, over Tobruk, six Caprom 42 s attacked his Sunderland. “They caught Us before we realised they were there, but we shot down three before making for our base. We had so many holes mat our plasticine gave out and we had to plug them with chew mg

- From the Mediterranean, SquadronLeader Marshall went far north and .flew Catalinas on Russian convoy 3 “We S "brought the Russian delegation to England and took the British delegation to Archangel. One noteo passenger was Mr. Harry Hopkins. .More recently Squadron-Leader Marshall has been operating in the • Bay of Biscay area. He expressed the opinion that the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force w«re coming out on top of the U-boat battle, although the battle would continue to the end of the war. : ... ~ „ ' “The U-boats do not like aircraft, he said. “When an aircraft swoops down on them from cloud or sun, they are faced with a form of attack fox whibh they, have no taste and they are having a bad time now that the Sunderlands, Catalinas and Whitleys are reinforced by Liberators, liaiifax.es and-Fortresses.” Once the second pilot had relieved Squadron-Leader Marshall, who was dozing in his seat, when a U-boat was sighted. Squadron-Leader Marshall was awakened immediately. “I saw the submarine on the surface half a mile away ” he said. t snatched the controls, pressed the depth charge switches, and dived to attack. We dropped the charges and toojc photographs, and the oil bubbles told us their tale of destruction. In the same squadron with Squadron-Leader Marshall is Squad-ron-Leader J. R. Bloxam, 0.8. E., D.F.C., of Feathcrston, who. has carried out high altitude raids over Italian ports from Malta. He received the O?B,E'. for service at Malta.