TWO BOMBERS CRASH
DRAMA IN OCEAN THREE KILLED, THREE MISSING RESCUE EFFORTS IN CANOE. AIR FORCE DISASTERS. (Press Association. —Copyright.) (Received 11.16 a.m.) London, February 19. The Air Force winter exercises opened with disaster. Two bombers crashed, one on the Sussex, downs, and the other in the Channel, less than a mile from Le Havre. The first plane, attached to the 10th Squadron, caught fire immediately it struck the ground about 1 a.m. The sergeant who was piloting it was thrown out and staggered to a neighbouring farm, where he collapsed. The other three occupants were killed. A similar fate the crew of the other bomber, which was forced down at sea. One man swam ashore and three are missing. Shipping is conducting an extensive scsrchi The plane sent out distress signals owing to a shortage of petrol, and was directed towards Havre, but was unable to make the coast.
The chief object of the exercises is to test the efficiency of the control and intelligence organisations under ideal winter conditions. Thick moving clouds and gusty winds reached fifty to sixty miles an hour, and presented problems which are not experienced during the summer manoeuvres. Some raiders were intercepted, but others reached their objectives with success and fully bombed the aerodromes and reservoirs of London. At Le Havre the well-known local swimmer, M. Tanguy, saw the plane circling seeking a landing place. When it was forced down he immediately launched a canoe in the high sea.
He found the pilot, Captain Page, as the canoe was rapidly filling with water. M. Tanguy was obliged to return with him to the shore though he saw two other airmen some distance away He made three attempts to find them, but each time the canoe filled so rapidly that he was obliged to return to the shore to empty out the water. Finally the canoe overturned, and the rescuer, exhausted, was 1 forced to give up his attempts. Captain Page stated he lost his way in the fog.
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Bibliographic details
King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4811, 20 February 1936, Page 5
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335TWO BOMBERS CRASH King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4811, 20 February 1936, Page 5
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