PLANE CAPTURES U-BOAT

Southland Times, Issue 24536, 10 September 1941, Page 5

PLANE CAPTURES U-BOAT

LONG WATCH AT SEA CREW SURRENDERS AFTER MACHINE-GUNNING (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 8. A description of a long vigil by aircraft of the Coastal Command which followed the capture of a U-boat the first time land aircraft had performed such a feat—and the story of that capture reveals one of the most interesting stories of aerial warfare. . A Lockheed Hudson completely unaided, held the U-boat in sight for nearly four hours and a Catalina flying-boat then arrived and acted as gaoler, assisted by other Hudsons and Catalinas, for nearly 10 hours more. The Hudson had been on patrol over the Atlantic since early morning. Visibility was poor and there were frequent rainstorms. Suddenly there . was a shout from the navigator’s cabin in the nose: “There’s one just in front of you.” There about 1200 yards away on the port bow, was a U-boat. The pilot thrust the nose of the aircraft down and dived. At exactly the right moment the bombs were dropped and the pilot turned steeply and climbed. Below him he could see a wide area of churned waves. As he watched there was another shout from everybody in the plane. The U-boat had come to the surface. , The Hudson dived again. This time all her guns blazed tracer bullets—the front guns, the turret guns and the belly-gun. As the Hudson dived the U-boat’s conning tower hatch was thrown open and about a dozen of the crew scrambled out and dropped on the deck. The Hudson crew thought they were manning the guns so kept their own guns firing hard. This was too much for the Germans. Those who were already on the deck turned and ran hack into the conning tower and those who were coming up from below still tried to push outwards. The U-boat crew were all mixed up together, some struggling to get in and the others to get out. All the figures seemed to be capless and they were distinctly visible from above for they all were wearing bright yellow lifesaving jackets. WHITE SHIRT HELD UP Four timp« the Hudson roared over, her guns screaming and banking steeply each time to swing round into the attack again while the rear-guns and the belly-gun kept up the fire. When it was coming round for the fifth attack, however, the U-boat surrendered. One of its crew held a white shirt up from the conning tower, waving it violently. The airmen ceased fire, but continued to circle with their guns trained, watching suspiciously. The Germans followed them anxiously round with the shirt and then, to make their intentions quite clear, held up what appeared to be some sort of white board. “They have shoved the white flag up, called the wireless operator triumphantly. The Hudson flew right over the U-boat at about 50 feet and by then the entire U-boat crew had crowded on to the conning-tower, some 30 or 40 of them. They were packed so tightly that they could scarcely move. The problem now was how to hold them prisoner and get them taken in custody. The navigator prepared a message for the base and the wireless operator’s hand rattled up and down on the key. All this time the pilot was circling the U-boat, keeping his eyes glued to it. He did that for three and a-half hours. Had he lost sight of it* for a second he might easily have lost it altogether. When at last he stepped on to his home aerodrome his neck was so stiff that he could not turn his head. The message reached the base and it was determined to bring that U-boat and its crew to shore if it were humanly possible. Never before in history had an underwater craft surrendered to a land aircraft. A Catalina was sent at once to relieve the Hudson. All the other aircraft nearby were diverted over the U-boat from time to time to demonstrate to the crew that there was a big striking force to reach if they tried to escape. ARRIVAL OF CATALINA The Catalina arrived early in the afternoon. When the Hudson crew saw the Catalina approaching they were afraid it might bomb and sink the U-boat so they signalled anxiously to it: “Look after our, repeat our, submarine, which has shown the white flag.” The Hudson crew dived twice more over “their U-boat” to have a last look at it Then it was the Catalina’s turn to circle endlessly. The crew kept it up for eight hours without having to fire a single shot. Surface craft were steaming towards the spot as quickly as possible but they were a long way off yet and the question was whether they would get there before nightfall. The weather was growing worse, daylight was fading and there was every chance of losing the U-boat during the night and the Catalina crew was growing desperate. But at the last moment they sighted one of his Majesty’s ships, which had steamed up and started to signal orders to the U-boat crew. Then came darkness and the Catalina lost touch with the U-boat. However, another Coastal Command Catalina in the area was continuing the vigil. By now a gale was blowing, the night was jet black and rain storms were lashing everywhere. Then, in the darkness, they picked up a glow of light from the submarine, but so fierce was the gale that they were blown off their course. Again very soon they saw her reflected in the dim light through the storm with the white foam of the waves breaking' across her bows.

Throughout the remaining hours of darkness the Catalina continued to circle, sometimes losing sight of the U-boat for as much as 15 minutes, but always finding her again. SHIPS REACH SCENE At last light began to break and the crews could just see the thin outline of the submarine. As the light strengthened they could make out a ship lying nearby and soon they saw other ships approaching the Catalina. The crew watched the beginning of the long task of getting the U-boat and her crew to harbour. From the time when the first ship arrived the U-boat was covered from the air by Coastal Command aircraft for, the whole of the next 40 hours.