AIRCRAFT & U-BOAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 September 1943, Page 4

AIRCRAFT & U-BOAT

BATTLE IN BAV OF BISCAY SUBMARINE SENT TO BOTTOM. AFTER SHOOTING DOWN ONE PLANE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, September 7. The destruction of one of seven U-boats in the Bay of Biscay, reported yesterday, was shared by two Wellington bombers, one of which bad a crew of three Australians, a New Zealander, a Canadian and a Scot. The New Zealander was the captain, Flying Officer J. Whyte, of Auckland. The other Wellington made the first attack and was hit by flak and forced down into the sea, only one member ■of the crew surviving. Flying Officer Whyte said: “The first 'Wellington’s depth charges hit and severely damaged the U-boat, which I found circling slowly, settling down by the stern and trailing oil. The U-boat put Up heavy flak when I dived to attack. The front gunner opened up from 1,000 yards and scored many hits. The rearturret gunner opened fire as we passed over the submarine. They shot a lot of Nazis from the deck. We dropped a stick of depth charges, the first of which must have exploded underneath the U-boat, because its stem was forced out of the water. It rolled slightly and then sagged down. We circled and saw the rest of the U-boat’s crew diving from the conning tower. A number were hurled into the air by an explosion. The survivors clustered together in one-man dinghies, which British naval units picked up. They also picked up a survivor from the other Wellington.”