Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 23, 2023 22:02:35 GMT 12
LOSS OF H.M.S. EAGLE
ONE NEW ZEALANDER ABOARD
(N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) . LONDON, September 2.
The only New Zealander in the aircraft carrier Eagle was Sub-lieutenant H. E. Duthie, of the Fleet Air Arm, who belongs to Epsom. He was 20yds from the ship when she went down. He was wearing a “Mae West” life jacket, and swam for half an hour before being picked up by a destroyer.
“I had just gone down to my cabin in order to pick up my gear, because I was about to begin a flight, when four torpedoes hit the ship almost simultaneously with a terrific explosion,” Lieutenant Duthie said. “I remember my mirror breaking, and then I dashed up to the flight deck because the ship listed heavily almost immediately. I waited for a while, hoping that the ship was not going to sink, but the list continued, so I began to slide down a rope on the ship’s high side into a lifeboat, but the Eagle was swinging over so rapidly that the lifeboat was lifted up from the water. I jumped into the sea, which was oily but warm, and began swimming as quickly as possible, remembering the stories of suction, but there was no suction, and I saw two men step off from the rudder as the Eagle sank, and then swim away.”
Lieutenant Duthie was with the Eagle during a previous Malta-bound convoy, when he was credited with shooting down a three-engined Savoia Machetti bomber, probably another, and assisting in the destruction of a third.
“One morning,” he said, “two of us were patrolling when we saw two of those bombers. We got both, one going down in flames. I was with the same pilot that evening when we saw 17 Savoia Machettis flying in tight formation. We both attacked the rear aircraft, and it went down flaming. The other pilot’s oil tank was hit, so he left. I used up the rest of my ammunition by firing at another bomber. I saw its starboard engine burst into flames. Enemy fighters arrived, so I left quickly.”
EVENING STAR, 4 SEPTEMBER 1942
ONE NEW ZEALANDER ABOARD
(N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) . LONDON, September 2.
The only New Zealander in the aircraft carrier Eagle was Sub-lieutenant H. E. Duthie, of the Fleet Air Arm, who belongs to Epsom. He was 20yds from the ship when she went down. He was wearing a “Mae West” life jacket, and swam for half an hour before being picked up by a destroyer.
“I had just gone down to my cabin in order to pick up my gear, because I was about to begin a flight, when four torpedoes hit the ship almost simultaneously with a terrific explosion,” Lieutenant Duthie said. “I remember my mirror breaking, and then I dashed up to the flight deck because the ship listed heavily almost immediately. I waited for a while, hoping that the ship was not going to sink, but the list continued, so I began to slide down a rope on the ship’s high side into a lifeboat, but the Eagle was swinging over so rapidly that the lifeboat was lifted up from the water. I jumped into the sea, which was oily but warm, and began swimming as quickly as possible, remembering the stories of suction, but there was no suction, and I saw two men step off from the rudder as the Eagle sank, and then swim away.”
Lieutenant Duthie was with the Eagle during a previous Malta-bound convoy, when he was credited with shooting down a three-engined Savoia Machetti bomber, probably another, and assisting in the destruction of a third.
“One morning,” he said, “two of us were patrolling when we saw two of those bombers. We got both, one going down in flames. I was with the same pilot that evening when we saw 17 Savoia Machettis flying in tight formation. We both attacked the rear aircraft, and it went down flaming. The other pilot’s oil tank was hit, so he left. I used up the rest of my ammunition by firing at another bomber. I saw its starboard engine burst into flames. Enemy fighters arrived, so I left quickly.”
EVENING STAR, 4 SEPTEMBER 1942
