GALLANT EXPLOIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1943, Page 3

GALLANT EXPLOIT

SINKING OF JAPANESE DESTROYER FLYING FORTRESS GETS HOME DAMAGED. FOLLOWING ON SHELL-BURST ' IN COCKPIT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, April 1. Three lifeboats sighted off the north New Guinea coast are believed to confirm the sinking of the large Japanese destroyer five miles from Finschhafen early on Tuesday morning. The single Flying Fortress which routed the enemy's fast destroyer convoy was badly damaged, but reached its base. During the attack, a shell burst in the aircraft's cockpit, one engine stopped and the pilot temporarily lost control. “The water is very phosphorescent in this area and we could see the wakes of the ships as they weaved in and out in an effort to dodge us in the darkness,” said Captain Frederick Wesche, New Jersey, pilot of the attacking plane. “The ships were very fast and manoeuvrable. They did not fire a shot till we came down, and then every gun on each ship threw up everything they had. A shell burst right in the cockpit and we got knocked about pretty badly in other parts of the plane. A fire started, and we had to beat it out. “Meanwhile, we were losing altitude badly, and one of the motors had gone. Then a second fire broke out, but we got this under control, too. We were down to 600 feet before I regained’eontrol of the plane. We thought we would be able to make a landing and were just congratulating ourselves on getting through when we found that our lights and radio had been damaged by fire. It would have been suicide to come in without being able to identify ourselves. So we turned round and went out to sea to wait for daylight. When we did ultimately get in, we found our brakes and flaps were damaged and we overshot the end of the landing strip by 30 yards. Altogether, it was 3| hours from the time we dropped the first bomb till we landed, but it seemed more like 3| weeks.” The Fortress made six runs over the destroyer, four at medium height and two at a very low altitude. The ship wqs hit on the fourth run. A near-miss was also scored.