DAYS OF ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1943, Page 5

DAYS OF ACTION

ADVENTURES OF CATALINA FLYING-BOAT AID GIVEN TO CRIPPLED WARSHIP. ITALIAN PLANES DAMAGED & DRIVEN OFF. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 31. r On a recent “routine” trip from : England to India, a Catalina flyingboat escorted a warship worried by swarms of torpedo and heavy bombers, ' fought off four Italian fighters and landed on the sea to rescue survivors from a rubber dinghy, states the Air Ministry news service. The plane was cruising toward Malta when over the radio came an order to alter course and shepherd a torpedoed warship to Gibraltar. After an hour’s flight, the Catalina’s captain sighted the crippled ship. It was a sitting target. From the direction of Sicily loomed a squadron of Italian torpedo-bombers. “Eventually,” said the captain, “one brave chap plucked up courage. He did not get very far. The ship’s main armament blasted him out of the sky before he could even drop a torpedo. That was enough for the rest. They beat it back to their base without delay.” The next incident came with the appearance of squadrons of heavy bombers, patterning the sea round the ship with columns of water. Later in the afternoon, the Catalina was attacked by four Cr.42’s, the most manoeuverable of the Italian fighters. After taking avoiding action, the Catalina fired and badly damaged two fighters, and the others went scuttling for safety. Then came the third incident. Down below on the water, the pilot spotted a small rubber dinghy, with a number of white specks that were men. Risking a landing on the open sea, he brought the flying-boat to rest a few yards from the dinghy, only to find that the survivors were Italians, the crew of the bomber brought down by the warship’s fire. The Catalina’s crew resumed their patrol, with the hull full of bullet-holes and dejected Italian airmen, to resume next day the “routine” trip to India. Now they are hunting Japanese submarines in the Indian ocean.