Fortress Limps Home

Northern Advocate, 10 February 1943, Page 3

Fortress Limps Home

i 8.0. W.) RUGBY. February S. i Allbough an enemy shell burst in ihcj bomb bay of a Flying Fortress and premamroly released three of its bombs, the. courageous crew kept the aircraft on us, course and dropped the remainder ol the! bombs on the prescribed target in a recent; raid oh enemy-occupied Europe. Just as the wounded Fortress, known as a thumper, left the target flying at the; tail end position of its formation, oak i severed the right aileron. This made staying in formation out ot the question; when the necessity for evasive action •arose. An enemy burst tore halt the •Palfxi glass out, of the nose, another shell •exploded in the cockpit, blowing the on-, •tire instrument panel out of commission j iand vital instruments upon which thej pilot and co-pilot depend wen* shattoicd.j I The same explosion blew out the hydraulic; Isystem, causing fluid to leak out. Fire; istarted in the cockpit but the commander !succeeded in turning off the hydraulic |svstem and extinguishing the blaze, the. • number four engine failed and the pro-j peller on number four feathered, but. the. ‘loss of this motor slowed the plane so that.• ;iv fell completely out of the formation ; The number three engine was hit. it did •not go out of commission but was shak•ing in its nacelle and it was likely to fall; i out entirely at any minute. Enemy hits were scored on the control cables and the navigator’s maps had been blown out when • the nose wah hit. The thumper round h- : self all alone over enemy territory.

Defenceless Prey 1 Bv this time the only course of action, was’ to fly in what the crew thought, the; general direction cf England The guns, in both turrets had been shot out otaction and the crew worked feverishly to, put them in working order as the enemy; fiehters continued to assault. the thumper's radio was out of action. xlrOj Germans carried t heir pursuit cut over. the English Channel and it required a steep dive, executed by the two pilots who had to handle the controls in concert., to bring the thumper away from the last. two enemy planes to be seen. ! A break in the clouds came and the thumper headed down towards England j Vne captain ordered the crew members to bale cut. They did. Then the pilots pro-: eeeded to the difficult task of ctash-land-, ing. i