WON VICTORIA CROSS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21197, 21 August 1940, Page 7

WON VICTORIA CROSS

STORY OF EXPLOIT “OVER IN FEW SECONDS" (United Pres. Assn.—Elec. Tel. copyrlgti) LONDON, Aug. 19 Telling the story of the operation against the enemy for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, a young Royal Air Force bomber pilot described how he and his crew set oft as the last of a party of five bombers to destroy the old aqueduct which carries the Dortmund-Emms Canal over the River Emms. The new aqueduct, he explained, had already been blown up by Royal Air Force raiders and the Germans had diverted to the old aqueduct the traffic of the canal, which is of great importance to the industrial area of the Ruhr. Most of the crews knew the way, for they had been there before, and they met no opposition all the way over. Pilot’s Thrilling Story Describing the attack, the pilot said: “We were relying on the moonlight reflecting on the water to give us our direction for the run up. Being the last of the five, we were due to go in at 11.23 p.m. Two minutes before then we came down to about 300 ft. We were then still several miles north of the target. “Suddenly everything started at once—searchlights and all sorts of anti-aircraft fire. It was unfortunate from our point of view that the enemy knew pretty well the direction from which we must attack. They had disposed their defences so that they formed a sort of lane through which we had to pass. It seemed to me that they had strengthened these defences a great deal since the first raids. The searchlights were blinding and we were flying entirely on the bomb aimer’s instructions. I had my head down inside the cockpit trying to see the instruments, but the glare made even that difficult. “Our instructions were not to rush it too much, because of the need for extreme accuracy. Before we started the rear gunner had asked if he could fire at something or somebody and he was shooting at the searchlights as we went past. “Almost as the same moment as we bombed I felt a thump and the aircraft lurched to the right. A pompom shell had gone through the starboard wing. Then another shell hit the same wing between the fuselage and the engine. They were firing pretty well at point-blank range. “0.K., Finis” “It was all over in a few seconds. The navigator called out, ‘O.K., finis.' Then we turned away again. “When we had got away the rear gunner reported that oil was coming into his cockpit. Then the wireless operator reported that the flaps were drooping. I tried to raise them, but found they would not come up. What had happened was that the hydraulic system had been damaged. We discovered, too, that the undercarriage indicators were out of action. “Not having landed without flaps before, I did not like to try it that night with a crew on board, so we cruised around a bit, doing a few local cross-country flights for about two and a-half hours. We waited until dawn and then came in all right.”