ADRIFT IN DINGHY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 182, 19 November 1941, Page 6

ADRIFT IN DINGHY

NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN RESCUED

AFTER DRIFTING i:S MILE'S

A New Zealancler Wing (Commander M. V. Blake, of Christchureh, tells the story of how, after a thrilling encounter with the enemy, lie was found adrift in his rubber dinghy oil' the French coast by pilots of Britain's Air-Sea Rescue Service. "My squadron was escorting Blenheim bombers across the Knglish Channel from Cherbourg," he writes, "Glancing round I saw three 109's about to attack one of my rear sections. 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 plane landed on the sea it sank straight to the bottom. E got out and came to the surface, where I inflated my dinghy and climbed in. My position was then about 25 miles south of the English coast." As the squadron leader was drying his clothes lie could hear motot boats, and aircraft searching all over the horizon. These were from the Directorate of Air Sea Rescue Services, which, under the command of Air Commodore L. G. le B. Crokc 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.

During the rest of that day eight aircraft passed over without spotting the liny speck far below. It was not until 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 very welcome sight, for I had been in the dinghy nearly ten hours and had tlrifted 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 crosssection of Britain's citizens may have a hand in the rescue of an airman. The police, the merchant service, and Royal Observer Corps, the Coastguard service and the Royal National Life Boat Institution mayall play their part and the whole machinery may be set in motion by a private citizen walking along the seashore who happens 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 ever their gunwliales assist exhausted men to climb on board and their equipment includes lifebelts, first-aid outfits, bunks for th<? wounded and emergency provisions.