ATLANTIC ADVENTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24699, 30 August 1941, Page 10

ATLANTIC ADVENTURE

CREW OF NAVAL AIRCRAFT FORCED LANDING NEAR BOAT (Rec. 8 p.m.) RUGBY, Aug. 28. The story of a British aircraft crew's lucky Atlantic adventure was told to-day. With petrol for only five minutes' flying left, no ship in sight, and land many miles away the outlook seemed grim for the crew of a naval aircraft away out over the Atlantic. The aircraft had been out on patrol in search of an enemy ship and ran into bad weather. It failed to find' the carrier from which it was operating. Just at the moment when the aircraft was down to a few hundred feet an empty lifeboat was sighted. The pilot was able to put the plane down on the water close to the boat and the three airmen swam across. Their luck still held, and they were delighted to find that the lifeboat contained ample supplies of blankets, food, water, cigarettes and even a bottle of brandy. There were; also a mast, a sail and a boat's compass, all in good condition, so the airmen shipped the mast and set sail, shaping a course for land. On the fifth day of the voyage they came up with a lifeboat carrying shipwrecked Danish seamen- The airmen handed over food and cigarettes to the sailors, but as they could not agree on the best course to steer the boats they parted company. It was on their ninth day in the boat that the airmen saw a ship loom up out of thick mist. They fired Verey lights tb attract attention and were rescued. Apart from slightly swollen feet due to exposure the airmen were little the worse for the adventure. They found they had sailed 200 miles towards land. The lucky lifeboat was later identified as coming from a ship which had been torpedoed.