SAVED BY AIRCRAFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24423, 8 October 1940, Page 7

SAVED BY AIRCRAFT

MEN OF SUNKEN SHIPS MANY FAMOUS RESCUES (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, Oct. 6. “ Nearly 500 survivors from ships lost in the Atlantic were saved in the last few months through the good work of Coastal Command aircraft,” states an Air Ministry bulletin. “ Sunderland flying boats, both of the R.A.F. and the Royal Australian Air Force, and other aircraft patrol far out over the Atlantic every day escorting convoys and searching for many miles round the convoys They sometimes find lifeboats and rafts drifting helplessly out of sight of passing ships. The most famous of these rescues was that of September 25, when 46 survivors of the City of Benares were picked up after she had been torpedoed 600 miles from land. “ There have been similar cases. One Sunderland found two boatloads of people who were suffering severely from thirst. They signalled that they had food, but no water. The flying boat dropped its own fresh water supply and all its cigarettes in a carefully-sealed package kept afloat by a life-jacket, then brought up a rescue ship. Two people on a raft were sighted a few days later. They, too, were rescued. “ boats are mere dots of grey on the water when first seen from an aircraft. Binoculars come into play. The pilot goes down to 20 feet or 30 feet to investigate. If the dot is a lifeboat or raft, then a package of supplies plumps into the sea nearby and the aircraft flashes a cheerful message that help is coming. A smoke float is dropped to mark the position, then the aircraft goes off in search of a ship to be guided to the spot.”