Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 25, 2020 11:56:04 GMT 12
STRANDED AIRMEN
SAVED BY CAMEL PATROL
Rec. 1.30 p.m.
Camels helped in an air and sea rescue when the crew of an R.A.F. Sunderland, practically all New Zealanders, came down in the sea off the west coast of Africa near the edge of the Sahara, says the Air Ministry news service. A rescue plane signalled to a desert patrol of the French Camel Corps and guided them towards the airmen, who had reached the shore in their dinghy by making a sail out of paddles and sheets.
The captain of the Sunderland, Warrant Officer J. S. Mac Donald, of Christchurch, said: "Ten miles from the shore one engine caught fire, and I had to come down. We reached a beach in about five hours, and then a plane circled overhead and we found afterwards that he had signalled to camel men."
The Arabs arrived at dawn and thought at first that the crew were Germans. A French patrol vessel eventually took the men aboard.
EVENING POST, 31 AUGUST 1944
SAVED BY CAMEL PATROL
Rec. 1.30 p.m.
Camels helped in an air and sea rescue when the crew of an R.A.F. Sunderland, practically all New Zealanders, came down in the sea off the west coast of Africa near the edge of the Sahara, says the Air Ministry news service. A rescue plane signalled to a desert patrol of the French Camel Corps and guided them towards the airmen, who had reached the shore in their dinghy by making a sail out of paddles and sheets.
The captain of the Sunderland, Warrant Officer J. S. Mac Donald, of Christchurch, said: "Ten miles from the shore one engine caught fire, and I had to come down. We reached a beach in about five hours, and then a plane circled overhead and we found afterwards that he had signalled to camel men."
The Arabs arrived at dawn and thought at first that the crew were Germans. A French patrol vessel eventually took the men aboard.
EVENING POST, 31 AUGUST 1944
