LIVED TO TELL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 228, 28 September 1942, Page 6

LIVED TO TELL

CRASHED 2000 FEET BEAUFORT IN SCOTLAND. Out of control in a blizzard, a Coastal Command Beaufort crashed from 2000 ft. on to a Scottish mountain side with two of the crew still inside. Yet they escaped with their lives. Two airmen parachuted down. One of these died of exposure and the other was seriously injured. It was while returning from a reconnaissance flight over Norway that the bomber ran into a severe storm. The radio was useless, sleet and wind lashed the aircraft. Tee formed on the wings, and the petrol supply was 1 running dangerously short as the nlane circled, honelessly lost, over the Scottish mountains. Eventually it was decided to bale out. The hatch over the pilot’s seat was opened. The full force of the blizzard blew in as the pilot banked the plane and the rear gunner climbed out and disappeared into the nie’ht. Next out was the wireless operator. The pilot was banking again to enable the navigator to climb out when one of the engines backfired and stopped. The aircraft banked steeply and went into a spin. The pilot and navigator were flung from the seats and the Beaufort whirled down and crashed. Crofters in their little cottages heard the thunder of tlw crash above the roar of the wind. They went out to search for the wreck but could find nothing on such a pitch-black night, and decided to wait till morning. With the first light of dawn three injured men staggered to the cottages. From their half-delirious statements it was understood that a fourth man was missing, and a search nartv was organised. A nlane was sent to direct the search partv. and the wreckI age of the Beaufort was found three ] miles from the cottage. The rear gunner was bung dead on a ridge. He had crawled 500 yards from where he I had left his parachute. I The pilot’s arm was broken. The ’ navigator had multiple sprains and bruises. More seriously hurt was the wireless operator, whose feet were iniured by the rocks on which he landed. Few airmen can boast of having survived such a crash.