Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 23, 2019 0:15:13 GMT 12
ADRIFT IN DINGHY
RESCUE OF N.Z. AIRMAN
WORK OF SPECIAL UNIT
New Zealander, Wing Commander M. V. Blake, Christchurch, tells the story of how, after a thrilling encounter with the enemy, he was found adrift in his rubber dinghy off the French, coast by pilots of Britain’s Air-Sea Rescue Service.
“My squadron was escorting Blenheim bombers across the English Channel from Cherbourg,” he writes. “Glancing round, I saw three 109’s about to attack one of my rear section's. I broke away quickly and, intercepting the first of the enemy planes, gave it a short burst of fire, but without effect. Then another 109 came for me and, pulling round quickly, I shot him down and, started for home again. ,But the third 109 attacked. I pulled up, got on his tail and gave him a burst. Before I could attack again the pilot baled out and his machine went crashing into the sea.
“Starting off home again I found smoke coming into the cockpit. Nursing the aircraft as far as possible, I called up and gave my position as 14 minutes due north from Cherbourg. The engine stopped, and as soon as my aeroplane landed on the sea it sank straight to the bottom. I got out and came to the surface, where I inflated my dinghy and climbed in. My position was then about 20 miles south of the English coast.”
As the squadron leader was drying his clothes he could hear motor-boats and aircraft searching all over the horizon. Air-sea Rescue, under the command of Air Commodore B. G. le B. Croke, and his deputy from the Royal Navy, Captain C. L. Howe, maintains a fleet of high-speed launches and specially detailed aircraft ready at a moment’s notice to dash off in search of a pilot who has come to grief in the Narrow Seas.
“A Welcome Sight”
During the rest of that day eight aircraft passed over without spotting the tiny speck far below. It was not till late in the evening that the airman was seen.
“When one spotted me,” went on the squadron-leader, “all the others came over and soon there were eight Spitfires, a Lysander, a Wellington and several Hurricanes milling about overhead. Then motor-boats appeared on the horizon. They were a welcome sight for I had been in the dinghy nearly 10 hours and had drifted and paddled about 13 miles. Every aircraft of the squadron had been out all day searching for me.”
A job like this is all in the day’s work for the Air-Sea Rescue Service, and sometimes a whole cross-section of Britain’s citizen's may have a hand in the rescue of an airman. The police, the merchant service, the Royal Observer Corps, the Coastguard service, and the Royal National Life Boat Institution may all play their part and the whole machinery is set in motion by a private citizen walking along the seashore who happens to see an aeroplane crash into the water or a torch signal flashing at night. The rescue launches, 63ft. long and with a top speed of 43, knots, can cover 500 miles without refuelling. Nets trailed over their gun wales assist exhausted men to climb on board, and their equipment includes lifebelts, first-aid outfits; bunks for the wounded and emergency provisions.
GISBORNE HERALD, 9 JANUARY 1942
RESCUE OF N.Z. AIRMAN
WORK OF SPECIAL UNIT
New Zealander, Wing Commander M. V. Blake, Christchurch, tells the story of how, after a thrilling encounter with the enemy, he was found adrift in his rubber dinghy off the French, coast by pilots of Britain’s Air-Sea Rescue Service.
“My squadron was escorting Blenheim bombers across the English Channel from Cherbourg,” he writes. “Glancing round, I saw three 109’s about to attack one of my rear section's. I broke away quickly and, intercepting the first of the enemy planes, gave it a short burst of fire, but without effect. Then another 109 came for me and, pulling round quickly, I shot him down and, started for home again. ,But the third 109 attacked. I pulled up, got on his tail and gave him a burst. Before I could attack again the pilot baled out and his machine went crashing into the sea.
“Starting off home again I found smoke coming into the cockpit. Nursing the aircraft as far as possible, I called up and gave my position as 14 minutes due north from Cherbourg. The engine stopped, and as soon as my aeroplane landed on the sea it sank straight to the bottom. I got out and came to the surface, where I inflated my dinghy and climbed in. My position was then about 20 miles south of the English coast.”
As the squadron leader was drying his clothes he could hear motor-boats and aircraft searching all over the horizon. Air-sea Rescue, under the command of Air Commodore B. G. le B. Croke, and his deputy from the Royal Navy, Captain C. L. Howe, maintains a fleet of high-speed launches and specially detailed aircraft ready at a moment’s notice to dash off in search of a pilot who has come to grief in the Narrow Seas.
“A Welcome Sight”
During the rest of that day eight aircraft passed over without spotting the tiny speck far below. It was not till late in the evening that the airman was seen.
“When one spotted me,” went on the squadron-leader, “all the others came over and soon there were eight Spitfires, a Lysander, a Wellington and several Hurricanes milling about overhead. Then motor-boats appeared on the horizon. They were a welcome sight for I had been in the dinghy nearly 10 hours and had drifted and paddled about 13 miles. Every aircraft of the squadron had been out all day searching for me.”
A job like this is all in the day’s work for the Air-Sea Rescue Service, and sometimes a whole cross-section of Britain’s citizen's may have a hand in the rescue of an airman. The police, the merchant service, the Royal Observer Corps, the Coastguard service, and the Royal National Life Boat Institution may all play their part and the whole machinery is set in motion by a private citizen walking along the seashore who happens to see an aeroplane crash into the water or a torch signal flashing at night. The rescue launches, 63ft. long and with a top speed of 43, knots, can cover 500 miles without refuelling. Nets trailed over their gun wales assist exhausted men to climb on board, and their equipment includes lifebelts, first-aid outfits; bunks for the wounded and emergency provisions.
GISBORNE HERALD, 9 JANUARY 1942
