EXCITING DAY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 217, 12 August 1940, Page 7

EXCITING DAY.

' R.A.F. LAUNCH RAIDED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. Aug. 10. Starting out at 10 o’clock one morning to seek an aircraft which was believed to be in the sea, a 60ft highspeed launch was towed into port at 3 p.m. on the following day, having passed through a most adventurous 17 hours at sea. The launch came across lifeboats from a burning wreck in the English Channel and, taking these boats in tow and getting on board 14 injured men, it cruised about till a naval vessel was found to which the shipwrecked sailors were transferred. The wind freshened and the sea became worse, but, guided by a Blenheim bomber, the launch kept up its search for other survivors over a wide area till late in the afternoon.

It then turned to go homo, but on the way it observed 40 to 50 enemy aircraft bombing merchant ships. Two German machines were seen shot down by British fighters about two miles away, and the launch altered its course in an effort to save the Nazi crews. On its way to them nine German fighters dived within a few feet of the water and raked the heavily-rolling and unprotected launch with machinegun fire. . 1 The wireless operator was killed in his cabin and a sergeant was-severely wounded. Some bullets passed through tho clothing of the master without injuring him. The hull of the small craft was hit by more than 200 bullets, many of which were incendiary, and these started three fires, blit each was got under control. Tho nine fighters repeated tho attack three times, firing on the launch .from both sides almost at mast height. RELIEVED BY FIGHTERS. British fighters then arrived and drove off tho enemy, one of which crashed in tho sea. When the attack was over it was found that the three engines of the launch were stopped. Two had been damaged by enemy fire and fouling of the propellers had put the other out of use. An aircraftsman who in the height of the action had taken over the wheel dived into the sea to clear the fouling. Their signalling lamp and wireless •set had been so damaged that communication was impossible, and their distress signals were unobserved. One engine was restored for only half an hour, and while it ran the men in the small engine-room were almost suffocated by gas from bullet-liolcs in the exhaust pipes. The launch, now helpless, was drifting away from the English coast in the dusk. In spite of his wounds, the sergeant insisted on remaining in tho wheelhouse and assisting the master to navigate the helpless c ra ft The signalling lamp was repaired, however, and messages were flashed about the Channel, and in response an, aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm came over and indicated that a rescue boat | was on its way. It was a lifeboat from Bembridge, Isle of Wight. When the lifeboat arrived the first rope fixed between the lifeboat and the launch broke in the heavy seas, but the second line held, and just before dawn the small R.A.F. vessel which had begun the day towing lifeboats was itself towed back to its base.