4
THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1955.
CRASH DIVE
in the
NORTH
hour.
SEA
T happened with stupefying suddenness. One moment they were sipping their tea. Thirty seconds later they were in the water. There had been the sound of a thousand milk-cams rattling at once, and smoke and fame had poured from the port engine. They were diving into the sea at 160 miles an
So this was the end of the flight to Norway. The flight that was to find out where the Scharnhorst and the Greisenau, escaped from Brest, were now lying. Cliff-the squadron leader commanding Everything was suddenly silent. the Beaufort torpedo-bomber-felt the chill water attacking his limbs. Then he saw the yellow dinghy ahead of him, the two gunners already aboard.
As he Swat towards the
dinghy
he
saw
McDonald, his navigator, away to his right, heading in
gaere
the direction
Miraculously they
all seemed to have escaped.
But what in hell
had happened?
He vaguely remembered that
they had hit the water port wing
...Then the clue
of oil on a bird's
EXPLOITS of the GOLDFISH CLUB—3
feathers saved a crew from death
That Venn, "1 sent SOS and our call- Argt.
must have put out the fire. The whole aircraft had disintegrated.
the dinghy..
•
When we
The situation looked pretty sign on the radio, clamped the despante..
Although the sta grabbed the two key down,
was calm, the temperature was In doing so it had thrown up pigeon-baskets, and" braced my- only just above freeting Soon
self for the crash. hit, the water flooded past me it began to snow. The pigeon was numb. and I found I was floating near was about their only hope. They His right arm
Tessier and Ser- the at escape hatch I still had had no food, as all the food Pilot-Officer geant Venn, the gunners, helped hold of one pigeon-basket, but containers were stowed in the
and them into the the other one had broken open aircraft,
no one had had him up beside.
pulled in and I couldn't see any sign of time to grab them All they dinghy, Then they
all the pigeon. I think it must had between them was a packet of malted-milk tablets, two bars There have drowned,"
of chocolate and a few pellets of chewing-gum.
McDonald. They stunned into dumbness, were
E hundred questions de-. manding ansvers, but no one asked them.
CL
Grabbed pigeon
1-
LIFF noticed, that Venn waż clutching one of the pigeon- baskets. The pigem seemed to have weathered the ditching.
"How on earth did you get hold of that?" asked Clif
"As soon as I heard the bang and felt we were diving." said
"Jolly good work, anyway," said Cliff. “He darted an àichnür- ing glance at Venn,
How about the SOS? Do you think it was picked up?"
"It should have been. "I doubt
Doubly careful
two glove-type THERE were
convas paddles in the dinghy,
if anyone had time to get and Cliff set up a watch of ten hearing on us, though. It was minutes on and ten minutts off only seconds and we were in for paddling. He had a small
pocket-compass, and after con Fultation with McDonald he set the water."
"How far from base, Mac?" the first two men to work.
Then he turned his attention to "About a hundred and fifty
the pigeon. niles, I reckon."
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Stinkie.
They nearly overturned the dinghy in their efforts to get Stinkie airborne.
Mr. Ross
There had been two pigeons there something about pigeons be one of his own. when they started, Winkie and not flying at night?" he asked. looked eagerly at the ring on Now that one had They remembered that there the pigeon's leg. He was disap- presumably been drowned they was.
pointed to see that it was empty. But something of the length of would need to be doubly careful to get message securely Night fell, and with it the the pigeon's flight could be attached to the second pigeon temperature. There were guessed from its exhausted con- and send it on its way.
occasional show furries, and dition. A hundred nies he sometimes the moon watched thought, maybe more.
He went them, its every feature distinct into the farm-house and picked in the crystal night air,
up the telephone..
4
Clin took the pigeon-basket from Venn. Is it Winkie or Stickie?" he asked.
"Stinkie,"
They still pinned their hopes on Stinkie. Although he had probably been forced to alight
be airborne again by now.
"Come on, Stinkle," said C on the sea at nightfall, he would moments later he was talking to
"here's your chance to make a name for yourself.”
..
They found a scrap of paper and a pencil, and McDonald wrote down their estimated posi- and longitude tion in latitude and rolled the paper into cartridge. Then they took the pigeon out of the pannier and rammed the cartridge into the special container affixed to the ring on Stinkie's beg. They made
First to leave
THE previous evening the five-
Beaularts engaged on the sweep with Clift and his crew had landed hack at Leachers, in
"Give me R.A.F. Leuchars he said, and added as an after- thought "Priority call" A few
the controller at Leachers.
"James Ross, Broughty Ferry, here," he said, "One of my pigeons has come back this morning all wet and oil-stained. One of those you were using. Registration number 1038. There's no menge on her, I'm afraid."
The
checked the squadron pigeon records and con- suspected and hoped- firmed what he had that No.: 1038 was one. of Squadron Leader
controller
a note of Stinkie's registration Fileshare, at varying times be number and then released bin,chtween 6.30 and sever. Cuff had
e been, the first to leave, but his "Cliff's pair."
BU
Down again
OUT Stinkle had hard enough flying for one day. He com- pleted circuit at the dinghy and then came in to land on his former perch.
s
leg of the sweep had been the "Hanz. on," said the longest," and it was not imti controller, "I fetch eight. O'Coax that night that the station navigation
Between officer. hape of his retum was aban- doned. Beaufort M of 42 Squad-
we ought to be able to ron was reported missing.
work out something."
The station naviga- tion officer took over the operations room at
the telephone.
Maps Leuchars the only clue they had were, spread out in
front of him.
In
messages
They knew, "No." received,
that.
Mr Ross spake slowly and The station commander picked deliberately on the telephone, up the telephone but His mind worked fast.
Out in the North Sea CỨN "You know," he said, "it's and his crew were drifting funny that any hird so covered slowly and imperceptibly towards in oil and muck as this
They were finding Scotland. onc could fly at all. I can't make that battledress plus fleecy-lined it out."
flying jackets and ying-boots was inadequate protection, against "I heard about it being the Aerce cold. At Cuts sugges- covered in oil," said the navigation they took of their Aying. tion" oficer. "Where in heaven's boots so as to dry their socks in name would a phrean get oil the tepid warmth of this from?"
Februry" (sum.“
Possibly from the wrecic? suggested Mr Fuss,
19
They were too tired now to paddle. One by one they relaxed:
a little and dozed..
IE
was at only 1115 that
when the Royal. Netherlands Air Force Hudson
"I don't think it's very likely.” "How about all-tankers?" The navigation officer was con- morning" vinced instantly.. "God, that's
toriker! Suppose they spotted that, half an hour after released the pigeon when they tons on the new area of search
this airimurt had received kostar la checked, and when it got dark rons Leuchars
it spent the night on a passing
was
control.
The
exactly
by the
Lanker? That could Casily
calculated double the length of its fightposition
navigation officer et Leuchars an hour before dark last night The Hudson dropped a bag of and another hour this morning supplies containing
choop They may be much further water, and cigarettes, and away than we think,
late,
radioed the position of the "It's possible-but how can dinghy back to Leuchara you find out about the tanker?" hour later arı
Should know
should
alr/sea
Wairus appeared and touched, down 100 yards away. pliet fixied... right. 'uy dinghy and called outta.
"Are you
504 Squadron?"
to the
the Megh of
66TX try Rosyth Shippud Wellington P. for Peter: af No.
Control... They know."
Within a minute the naviga tion officer. was talking to Rosyth
"R. A.F. Ops Room Letrebars here. Did you have an oil tanker going north last night?" "Yes, we did. What do you want to know?"
"Can you give me its down · position?”
fort M for Mother of 42."
"No," said Cliff, "we're Bean-
Terribly sorry, old boy," said the Walrus pilot, turning into wind to take of again, “but. you're the wrong crew,
Disgruntled
FOR the next two hours, they "I think so. There was e
were a perplexed and some short pause. "Here it is: 36.25 the meantime,
what disgruntled crew. But, in Jour high-speed North, 02.05 West."
launches had been despatched to "Thanks a lot."
pick them up. two from Blyth and two from Aberdeen. Öne The two
of the launches from Blyth men," navigation officer and controller, rashed arrived fast, picking up Cliff and into the main plotting-room to his crew at 1415, 21 hours 40 fix the dawn position of the minutes after the crash They tanker. IL was due east of were landed at Blyth at 1730. Broughty Ferry, just kiside the suffering from exposure and
that evening. They were all. 50-mile circle in which the un- successful search had been made,
frostbite and might well not
have survived another night:
...
They back-tracked the tanker to plot its position at dusk the back to Leuchars they were met When they eventually got previous night, and as
by the station commander, the they did so the station controller, the navigation office commander came in and Mr James Ross They with news of a third had already heard that one of class bearing which, an their pigeons had provided the Army signal unit had vital clue in locating the dingby. taken on a short SOS transmission picked up
NEXT WEEK
Drama
In the⠀
Bay of Bisexy
to
of
"How fat do you think it's flown?"
- "Why didn't you put a mes-
at 1835 the previous sage in the container?" asked day. This was assured the station commander.
from
"We did." said Cliff "Didn't The Stinkie still have it?"
have come:
Cliff's aircraft.
bearing was of little. value by itself, but it was.
useful check, and,
"No," said the controller.
Lot of fun
EVER mind
Cliff and his crew yelled and to help them plan a search was
more important, it gave them the shouted, waved their ang and Cliff's probable - track. They "You say there's no sign probable time of ditching, and SWOTC. Sometimes the bird knew that he had been making a message on this pigeon?" therefore the time when the havé flopped its wings and took off for Kristansand.
pigeon might be assumed
1 the bird 66% momentarily to avoid
started its flight. lunge from one of the crew. Bu
had escaped from the alturaft at
navigation officer, "we always it settled down again on Chif had set coune vor base..
the time of ditching, just after a lot of fun working it out." the edge of the dinghy,
What they did not know was the
1635, it would have had less than "Just a moment," said Mr. time Cari nad spent sweeping
without an hour and a half's daylight Ross. You mentioned Strides the Skagerrak, and, most impor- knowing the conditions. It's loft. It might perhaps have did you release him all right?" "Yes. He was a bit reluctant that of all, the fact that he had covered in oil and that makes it covered up to 70 miles.
Look worse than perhaps it
to go, but he went in the end, pressed on south across the really is. I thought at first it
thank God Skagerrak in the vain hope of must have covered a hundred
Cuir laughed with the places, but all the time he was thinking of the bleak prospect facing them if Stinkle falled them.
"We've got to get him air-sighting the German, ship.. borne, chapa,” he said. “Come on, wave him off and don't fet him alight on the dinghy again."
"How long will be me?"
asked Tessier,
1
Miles to south
HEY drew
蒜
Kristiansand
sercad
line
trom
to Leuchars
"It's hard to
Say
miles or more, but now I think about it. "I don't see how it can.. have flown' more than 40 or 50 miles.
Disappointed
Back-tracked
"How about Winkie?"
"I'm afraid we lost Winkle," soid Clit."The crash was terribly sudden, and she went down with the shelg!!
Mr Ross held up the pigeon
FTER explaining the situation A to the station" commander they back-tracked the flight of he was carrying for all to s00,-
went the pigeon from the dusk posi-
down with the ship, tion of the tanker to 70 miles ́eh?" he said. "She must-haves.
We haven't out in the North Sea towards come up again, Kristiansand. Rather than seen a sign of Stinice. This is make any precise estimate of Winkle track, they drew an are of 70 the general direction of southern Norway. Then they laid of the Army signal unit bearing until it crossed this are..
miles radius from the tanker in
"That intersection J3
Postscript
This time they nearly over- tumed the dinghy in their efforts to get Stinkie alborne. At last he took off again, and after two Unsteady circuits of the dinghy direct. This represented Cliff's 66CHE wouldn't fly at night, and f
"SE wouldn't by at least he obedien lly set course for home, probable homeward course. They They watched him disappear into sent a Catalina to search along an hour and ten minutes after the darkening sky.
this track. It searched all night dawa. So she can't have been in the air much more than an in vain. Cliff and his crew were hour. She won't have covered marty miles to the south.
more than about 50 miles."..
-CUTINKIE, never reached' hiz "Right. This'll be a tremendous
Loft, and wis the only help. We'll draw a circle of 50
far casualty Winkle," who was an а miles radious round Broughty south of where they should have unusually tough bird and hid Ferry and concentrate the search. been if they'd turned for home been No. 1 t the National in that"
on time," said the navigation Pigeon Service 1940 breed, toas Off CET.
given the Dickin Award (the Meanwhile, on a small farm For the next hour, seven at Broughty Ferry, some 25 miles Beauforts from CTs squadron
"So it is," agreed the station animal V.C.). She lived a mrth of Leuchars Mr James wie Eudsons of Nos. 320 and commander, and the whole other eleven and a half years, Ross, master-plamber, an ardent 489 Squadrons, based at Dace thing is built up on supposition; then stuffed, and is no
dying in August 1953, She was "I think Winkie and Stinkie member of the National Pigeon and Arbroath, combed the area. conjecture-guesswork, If you - come from a loft at Broughty Service, carried out his morning without rent
Uke, But since all else has view in the Dundee Museum a The ops-roOEN
few miles from her old loft of Ferry. That's Just north of the inspection of his pigeon-loft. In staff at Leuchars were bitterly falled. I think it's worth a try. Tay near Dundot. About the the back of the loft, its feathers
Which squadron has aircraft Broughty Ferry. same distance from 219 as so clogged with oil that he won disappointed.
available?" Leuchers. He'll be all right.”... dered how it could have flown #771 have another word with
there was an exhausted, that Broughty Ferry chap," "The Dutch squadron.
starch.
Pizcons fly at about 40 miles At first light next morning: an hour," said McDonald. "And a
rescue aircraft, they make good use of winds Hudson, tok up the and up-currents. I should think Again without result, three to four hours and he be horie."
"Where's his loft?"
A few minutes later, as the bedragged-looking bind which he said the navigation officer, "He Some of them are searching, [These extracts are from "Dowe daylight began to fade, Cliff res took at first for a stray. On may be able to suggest some now. We could divert them to in the Drink" to be published membered something."Wasn't closer examination it proved to thing?
this position."
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