CROSSING THE RHINE

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 44, 23 May 1945, Page 8

CROSSING THE RHINE

AIRMAN'S EXPERIENCE

HUTT BOY'S ACCOUNT

Writing to his people in Lower Hutt, Flight/Sgt "Pip" Oldersliaw, who is serving with the N.Z. R.A.F in England, gives a vivid account of air operations during the crossing of the River Rhine that Jed to the final break up and surrender of the Werhmacht. "After a few days' wait in beautiful weather," he writes, "we were summoned for briefing and told the next day was 'it.' Before dawn broke the first gliders were off, followed by others at minute intervals. There were a few delays owing to broken tow ropes and I hoped that our tow rope wouldn't break when our turn came as we wanted to see the 'big do.' Our take off was good and on reaching height after a long climb, I found that one of our engines was belching smoke and oil. Still, by flying with the gills open, we kept the cylinders fairly cool and our oil didn't burn —only poured out. "Flying in the slipstream was pretty hectic, the kites and gliders jeing tossed all over the sky. Over England and the Continent we saw hundreds of American Dakotas laden with paratroopers pass by. We had I a couple of our gliders fall out with snapped tow ropes, but the rest managed to make it. A few miles from the Rhine we put on our chutes and flak suits. Just before the crossing we met the American Dakatos coming back, some with one engine gone. One fell straight out of the sky "and exploded; no chutes came out. Ahead of us we could see the flak—plenty of it, but mostly above, so it didn't worry us. The small arms fire however, was deadly. Crossing the Rhino I looked below and could see hundreds of assault boats heading for the opposite bank. The ground 011 the other side was simply covered with the 'chutes of the paratroopers. At last we reached our dropping zone and found the sky black with aircraft, gliders and flak. We got caught in the slipstream and then with two loud thumps—like fitting an empty can — we were hit. The glider cast off and Jim just about turned our kite over in getting out. Three Dakotas went down burning, some chaps getting clear. We jettisoned our tow rope and weaved like blazes. Back from over the Rhine we took off our 'chutes and flak suits and a couple of hours later were back in camp with a good landing. "Inspection of the kite showed that two cannon shells had hit us; one in the fuselage and'one just outboard of the starboard petrol tank. We were the only kite in the Squadron that got hit. The oil leak in the engine had cost us over 16 gallons of oil and the propellor hub was spurting oil too. Main oil supply high pressure line was broken, and it was a wonder the engine had not caught fire. A pretty good 'do', believe me."