Post by baz62 on Sept 23, 2018 14:29:11 GMT 12
Just reading this story in the March Auster Club magazine. Field Marshal Montgomery had a comment regarding the condition of one of the survivors!
"It was 9th February 1945 just after the Battle
of the Bulge, Hitler's last gamble through the
Ardennes in Belgium, that two of Field
Marshal Montgomery's army liaison officers
were flying in an Auster to collect their jeeps
in Nijmegen, Holland. They were then going to
liaise with British and US forces prior to the
first battle of the war in Germany now known
as the Battle of the Reichswald Forest.
They took off from a strip at Geldrop in an Auster
MkV powered by the Lycoming 0-290-3 which must
have belonged to an RAF Communications flight
and not an Air OP squadron as the pilot was a
Flight Lieutenant McQueen of the RAF. Captain
Harden sat beside him on the right hand side and
Captain Mather in the rear facing seat behind.
At 1,000ft overhead Grave some 8 miles SW of
their destination they were attacked by a Focke Wulf
FW190 firing both cannon and machine guns. The
pilot, Flight Lieutenant McQueen was killed outright,
the rear facing Captain Mather was severely
wounded with a shattered left arm and bullets in
the kidneys, bottom and leg. Miraculously, Captain
Harden in the front seat was unhurt. Captain
Harden managed to seize the joystick and despite
the body of the dead pilot impeding its
movement and his having no flying experience
whatsoever, managed to keep the aircraft in a
gentle glide towards the ground.
Captain Mather, in the back seat, also with no flying
experience, managed to operate the flap lever
above the dead pilot's head and then undid his
straps and crawled towards the tail. Maybe it was
this that slowed the aircraft sufficiently for it to crash
land in a shallow swamp in a clearing in a wood,
cutting Captain Harden's head badly.
They both ended up in a British military hospital near
Eindhoven where they were visited by none other
than Field Marshal Montgomery himself.
Pointing to Captain Mather the great man
asked the New Zealand surgeon, in his customary
bracing way, "How many holes in
him?". "Thirteen" replied the surgeon.
"Thi r teen, thi r teen! Excellent. Excellent!"
said the great man and walked off!"
"It was 9th February 1945 just after the Battle
of the Bulge, Hitler's last gamble through the
Ardennes in Belgium, that two of Field
Marshal Montgomery's army liaison officers
were flying in an Auster to collect their jeeps
in Nijmegen, Holland. They were then going to
liaise with British and US forces prior to the
first battle of the war in Germany now known
as the Battle of the Reichswald Forest.
They took off from a strip at Geldrop in an Auster
MkV powered by the Lycoming 0-290-3 which must
have belonged to an RAF Communications flight
and not an Air OP squadron as the pilot was a
Flight Lieutenant McQueen of the RAF. Captain
Harden sat beside him on the right hand side and
Captain Mather in the rear facing seat behind.
At 1,000ft overhead Grave some 8 miles SW of
their destination they were attacked by a Focke Wulf
FW190 firing both cannon and machine guns. The
pilot, Flight Lieutenant McQueen was killed outright,
the rear facing Captain Mather was severely
wounded with a shattered left arm and bullets in
the kidneys, bottom and leg. Miraculously, Captain
Harden in the front seat was unhurt. Captain
Harden managed to seize the joystick and despite
the body of the dead pilot impeding its
movement and his having no flying experience
whatsoever, managed to keep the aircraft in a
gentle glide towards the ground.
Captain Mather, in the back seat, also with no flying
experience, managed to operate the flap lever
above the dead pilot's head and then undid his
straps and crawled towards the tail. Maybe it was
this that slowed the aircraft sufficiently for it to crash
land in a shallow swamp in a clearing in a wood,
cutting Captain Harden's head badly.
They both ended up in a British military hospital near
Eindhoven where they were visited by none other
than Field Marshal Montgomery himself.
Pointing to Captain Mather the great man
asked the New Zealand surgeon, in his customary
bracing way, "How many holes in
him?". "Thirteen" replied the surgeon.
"Thi r teen, thi r teen! Excellent. Excellent!"
said the great man and walked off!"
