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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0385.PDF
MARCH 25TH, 1948 FLIGHT 321 shadowing the approaching ships, but in the later phases thev changed their role and were flying anti-submarine patrols for the same ships' protection. The shadowing trips were of a V.L.R. order, each flying boat being air- borne for some 13 hours. The anti-submarine flights were much shorter—lasting only just over five hours •each. With a choice of either, I plumped for "an anti-sub marine trip as this promised to be more interesting, and also because on the previous occasion on which I had flown in a Sunderland it was with No. 201 Squadron on a genuine anti-submarine operation. This time, how- ••:•• • • X ••• On the bridge, WC. Crosbie (left) in the /sd pilot's seat of the Sunderland 4 X Y belonging to No. 230 iquadron. The 2nd pilot is FIL A. E. Harknesi The beam look-outs at the waist gun turrets of Y for Yoke. In the centre of the floor are sono buoys and those on the . .:•„.." right are flame floats -r... - ever, it was with No. 230 Squadron in Y lor Yoke. What a joy it was to be on board again listening to the old familiar cockpit drill and patter; one can only wonder at the complication and efficiency of it all. The captain of the aircraft was W/C. J. L. Crosbie. Wing Commander Flying at Calshot, and, since he has been flying Sunderlands for nearly ten years (he flew the prototype), it is not surprising that he is familiar withthe drill. I went with him from the stern turret forwards to the bow while he checked every little detail —even trying each porthole screw. Here is bi»t a small selection of the orders and com- ments which came over the inter-com. as we gently taxied over Southampton Water. When he took his seat the second pilot had already started the outer engines and moorings were cast off immediately. "Fuel to be used 714 gallons." (This meant that from our The radar operator in his tiny shaniy which is jammed in between the 2nd pilot's seat and the navigator's station. Although totally shut in, he has the most complete view of everything surrounding the flying boat. weather cleared somewhat and the radar operator managed to coax his instrument to function. Albeit it was in reverse and blips from targets in front of the Sunderland appeared as if lp weight of 59,000 lb we should have to use or jettison they were behind, after a while the operator got quite good at 5,000 lb of fuel before getting down to our maximum landing weight of 54,000 lb. The original all-up weight of the Sun- interpreting these inverted readings. On reaching the ships we began a box search at an angle ofderland was 44,600 lb!) Then "Ready for contact starboard 30 degrees to port of the main line of advance. Round and inner," "Contact starboard inner," "Oil pressure tegister- round we went, starting each box immediately above the flag- ing." Here also was interpolated a reference to woodpeckering. ship. Occasionally we got a glimpse of another Calshot Sun- Next the outers were run-up with a request "Hot air in and " Hot air out." By this time the inner Twin Wasps had derland—D Dog from No. 201 Squadron—as it completed the search pattern over the convoy. Once, as a submarine was warmed up; they were also run-up and hot-air intakes checked. spotted, we heard D Dog make the code call " Tantivy Tan-In the middle of all this, just as the vacuum pumps were J-:—-" ~-J : -«~*-i» i;— *•- -v.-..^ ~~~ ^ ^~ .1—- /.-_. checked, came a request to stand by for a message. This read "Force may be 7 miles ahead of position." Take-ofi Flaps out, a last check on fuel cocks, and order from the captain to stand by the jettison valve controls, and a final "all clear port and starboard" from the beam observers, and tivy " and immediately dive to about 300 ft to drop flame floats to mark the spot where the submarine was last seen. Luck seemed not to be with us for a long while. There were alarms, of course, and each time these occurred throttles were slipped into '' auto rich '' and we dived down almost to sea- level. When, however, we had been airborne some four and a half hours our port-beam observer suddenly spotted a schnorkel just close by. Calling "Tantivy Tantivy" over the R/T, ••e were "hurtling across Southampton Water for take-off. First W/C. Crosbie dived lor the spot where it was last seen. the Sunderland runs for a while in a slightly nose-up attitude, then on an even keel as it gets on to its step. In 26 seconds >ve were airborne and then, turning on our course, climbed to Sou ft, and proceeded at 135 knots indicated air speed. Almost immediately we were over 10/roth cloud which went <lown to nearly zero level—an ideal day for submarines—and !t looked as if our journey was not going to be really necessary.A ddt\l to this, our radar decided to go unserviceable just then While we debated whether to tell Group of our troubles the Flame floats were dropped and we circled while one of the destroyers dashed up to carry-on the attack. Presently we had the satisfaction of seeing the destroyer hoist the asdic-contact flag and we knew that our '' Beggar,'' as the code calls an enemy submarine, was in safe hands. On our request for further instructions we were told to return to base, thanked for our co-operation and informed that the result of the morning's exercise was the sinking of five out of seven of the attacking submarines.—J..Y.
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