Unknown U-boat 1

At 2158 hours on 27 May 1943 Liberator G.R.Mk.II (T) of 224 Sqd was returning to St.Eval, Cornwall after escorting a convoy when contact was made with the ASV radar about 400 miles west-south-west of Land's End. The aircraft, flown by Flight Sergeant J.S. Edwards, was above cloud at the time, but it homed in on to the target while losing height from 2,500 to 500 feet. The rear and front gunners spotted a U-boat on the surface through a break in the clouds, before it was lost to view. Edwards circled and descended to 50 feet, and the U-boat was spotted dead ahead on a westerly course. The Liberator went into the attack, with the gunners opening fire against return flak, but all six depth charges hung up. Edwards made another run and this time the depth charges were released, but they overshot astern of the U-boat. Contact was then lost in a fogbank, or the U-boat might have dived. It appeared to have been hit in the conning tower by macine-gun fire, while the Liberator received damage to the port inner engine and the hydraulics. Edwards landed back at St. Eval at 0245 hours the following morning. No U-boat was lost on that day. Ref: ADM 199/1418