NARROW ESCAPE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 June 1941, Page 5

NARROW ESCAPE

BOMBER IN FLAMES OVER GERMANY PLANE STAGGERS BACK TO ENGLAND London, June 17. Their aircraft in flames with the rear gun out of action and a fighter attacking, the crew of a heavy bomber came near to baling out over Germany on Sunday night They had bombed their target at Cologne and were flying away when they were attacked by a fighter. “We were just passing through some searchlights when suddenly there was a terrific rattling and banging underneath and behind our aircraft,” said the captain. “The fighter had come up on our tail and was firing with cannon and machine-guns but only bruised his skin.” The reargunner was unable to return the enemy fire as his turret had developed a fac't on the outward journey and was out of action. The second pilot tapped the shoulder of the captain, who looked back and saw part of the» inside of the aircraft behind the main spar on fire. The window curtains and fabric along one side of the fuselage were burning and oil was spurting from two punctured pipes. There was every aanger of the fire spreading rapidly “When I looked back I thought it was all over with us,” added the cantain. “I never thought we could get the flames out. To make matters worse, the telephone set which links the members of the crew also failed.”

Tearing the fabric to keep the fire from spreading and stamping out the flames and smothering them with cushions snatched from a bunk, two of the crew fought the fire while the pilot flew on, doing his best by evasive action to avoid further attacks from the fighter.

The fighter, a MellO, closed in to within fifty yards, and the rear gunner could see it plainly. Again came the thud of the enemy’s fire as his bullets hit the bomber, and the captain could set trace. bullets flying past his cockpit

For third time the fighter came in, and in this attack the second pilot was wounded, but was able to scramble along the fuselage and warn the rest ot the cre v that they would have to bale out of they could not get the fla ues under control. The front and rear gunners lef. their turrets, and on the way from the tail of the aircraft the rear gunner fell through the escape hatch in ' e floor. In the dark he could not see that the cover of the hatch had been knocked off. Only the guide ropes which he had been holding saved him from dropping right through and out of the aircraft.

Meanwhile the wireless operator attempted to send a signal, but the set was no longer working. It took about ten minutes to put out the fire.

“It seemed an age," said one of the crew. “At least the Hun had sheered off after the third attack and we had no more trouble.”

Flying on, th_ captain found he could not maintain height. When the bomber reached the Dutch coast searchlights picked it up and it came under he fire of thi ground defences. But it was not hit Over the North Sea the crew threw out their ammunition an- flares to lighten the aircraft. Eventually they reached the English coast and found the landing ground, but because the flaps had been damaged and the air-speec’ indicator made

useless, the captain decided, since it was still dark, to fly around and wait for dawn before attempting to land.

The hydraulic system, too, had been put out of action. The crew, however, -managed by using the emergency system to get the undercarriage down and locked. When the bomber landed the absence c" the air-speed indicator and Paps inevitably caused the pilot to ccme in t o fast. The bomber raced across the aerodrome, missed a gun emplacement and a small concrete building by inches, and finally tipped up on its nose in a patch of freshly dug ground—without further injury to Ihe crew—U.P.A. NAZI PLANE EXPLODES OVER PORTUGAL fßec. 9.0 a.m.) Lisbon, June 18. | A German plane blew up over Porj lugal and all seven members of the j crew were killed. —U.P.A.