TERRIBLY BATTERED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1943, Page 3

TERRIBLY BATTERED

AMERICAN FLYING FORTRESS BUT BROUGHT HOME BY GALLANT CREW. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 8. Though an enemy shell burst in the bomb bay of a Flying Fortress and prematurely released three of its bombs, the courageous crew kept the aircraft on its course and dropped the remainder of the bombs on the prescribed target in a recent American raid over enemy-occupied Europe. Just as the wounded Fortress, known as the “Thumper,” left the target, flying in the tail-end position of its formation, flak severed the right aileron. This made staying in the formation out of the question when the necessity for evasive action arose.

An enemy burst tore half of the glass out of the nose of the plane. Another shell exploded in the cockpit, blowing the entire instrument panel out of commission, with the vital instruments upon which the pilots depend shattered. The same explosion blew out the hydraulic system, causing the fluid to leak out.

A fire was started in the cockpit, but the commander succeeded in turning off the hydraulic system and extinguishing the blaze. The No. 4 engine failed; its propeller was feathered, but the loss of this motor slowed down the plane so that it fell completely out of the formation. The No. 3 engine was also hit. It did not go out of commission, but was shaking in its nacelle and was likely to fall out entirely at any minute. Fighters Shaken Off. Enemy hits were scored on control cables. The navigator’s map had been blown out when the nose was hit. The “Thumper,” still under attack, found itself all alone over enemy territory, and the only course of action was to fly in what the crew thought to be the general direction of England. The guns in both turrets had been shot out of action, and the crew worked feverishly to put them into working order as the enemy fighters continued their assault. The ‘’Thumper’s’” radio was out of action, and no help could be called. 'The Germans carried their pursuit out over the English Channel, and a steep dive was executed by the two pilots, who had to handle the controls in concert to bring the “Thrumper” away from the last two enemy planes to be seen. A break in the clouds came, and the “Thumper’ headed down toward England. The captain ordered the crew to bale out, which they did. Then the pilots proceeded to the difficult task of making a crash landing.