AMAZING FLIGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23617, 29 March 1940, Page 10

AMAZING FLIGHT

DAMAGED MACHINE PILOT'S SKILFUL WORK CREW BROUGHfr TO SAFETY [KHOM OLTII OWN COHRKSI'ONDKNT] LONDON, March 5 Details of a remarkable three-hour j flight across tlio North Sea by the pilot'j and crew of a Royal Air Force coastal' command machine liavc been revealed. The aeroplane, the pilot of which was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in the last list of honours, was on a reconnaissance patrol toward the coast of Norway when its tail was damaged in a fight with a Nazi Dornier. A' bullet wrecked the hinge of one of the double rudders as the British machine: dived to attack the Dornier close to , the sea. The Happing rudder made the aircraft practically uncontrollable and the pilot pulled out of the dive only a few feet above water. Limping away, be would have made a good target, but the Dornier had taken its own share of punishment, too, and had to H.y off badly damaged. Vibrating Violently After the fight the British pilot found that his machine was vibrating violently from end to end and had developed a corkscrew motion. He could not keep it straight. He pulled open the emergency hatch above his head and the navigator and wireless operator opened the cabin door. All three had their parachutes and life jackets ready, but they kept on Hying. Steering by varying the revolutions of the two engines, and by manipulating the ailerons and remaining half-rudder, the pilot coaxed his machine back toward the Fast Coast. As darkness fell the aircraft rail into a thunderstorm that made navigation impossible, but still the crew kept at their posts. Preparations to Jump The pilot decided that the chances of making a safe landing were so small as to be negligible, and prepared the crew to jump by parachute as soon as tiiev saw they were over land. After nearly two hours the radio operator, who had been tillable to establish contact with the base, succeeded in doing so. ... The operator asked for their position and was astonished to learn that they were over the Irish Sea, half-way between the Cumberland coast and the Isle of Man. They had llown across blacked-out Northern Fngland without seeing it. With the radio again in operation, they were "homed" back to the Fast Coast. At the aerodrome, anxious station mates were waiting. They expected the crew to jump and allow the aircraft to crash. Landing Made at Last At last, the aeroplane appeared above the flare-path that had been prepared iu case the pilot should attempt to land. He came lower, and the watchers, saw the wildly-kicking tail jumping in the light of tlie (lares. The aircraft flew in crab-wise, touched down on the aerodrome and straightened up. When the damaged tail was inspected, it was found that, in addition to the broken hinge, a fracture had started across the main tail plane and had crept two-thirds of the way across.