MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
I've been reading a book I just got, Victory Fighters: The Veterans' Story and here is a story I found memorable, with additional details from the book The Hurricats.
An RAF fighter pilot, James Stuart DFC, was serving on a CAM equipped ship, the Empire Darwin. The ship and the rest of the convoy sailed from Gibraltar on 23 July 1943. On the evening of the 28th they found they were being shadowed by Luftwaffe FW-200 Condor bombers as they were passing West of the Condor base at Boradeaux, France.
Stuart was waiting in readiness in the cockpit of his Hurricane 1 so he could be catapulted aloft to engage the Condors. Suddenly a Condor appeared to starboard at only about 150 ft altitude. They prepared to launch Stuart but then a USAAF B-24 appeared and attacked the Condor. The two four engined airplanes flew side by side, guns blazing way at each other, and after a full minute of battle the port engine of the Condor caught fire. The B-24 climbed away while the Condor jettisoned its bombs and then hit the ocean.
Soon thereafter an SOS signal was received from the B-24; it did not make land, but no ships were detached from the convoy to search for it..
Two more Condors were seen at high altitude and the decision as made to launch the Hurricat but then yet another Condor was seen at 500 ft altitude 10 miles away and was pointed out to Stuart.
Stuart launched and began firing at the Condor from 300 yards, attacking from the port side out of the sun. The return fire from the Condor was intense but missed the Hurricane and Stuart bored in to point blank range, firing at the cockpit. There was a brilliant flash from near the Condor's forward turret.
Turning back for a 2nd attack, Stuart's guns jammed or ran out of ammo after only a half second burst. The FW-200 crashed into the sea, not seen by Stuart but verified by an observer in the convoy.
Stuart then noticed AA fire on the port side of the convoy and sighted a Condor, which he made dummy attacks on. The Condor dumped its bombs on a straggling ship and disappeared into a cloud.
Another Condor was sighted 12 miles away at 500 ft altitude. The Empire Tide launched its CAM Hurricane, piloted by P.J.R. Flynn. Flynn attacked the Condor from the rear port quarter firing a 2 sec burst at 300 yards. Breaking off, Flynn climbed into the sun and attacked from the port side hitting the cockpit area, but the Hurricane was hit by return fire, mainly in the wings.
Flynn decided he should silence the gunners and sprayed the rear fuselage, then closing to 100 yards and shooting at the front turret.
He next went after the outer and inner port engines but found the return fire as bad as before. A large hole appeared in the Hurricane's port wing and the canopy was shattered. But the Condor's port engines began to smoke.
As he closed in for his final attack and exhausted the rest of his ammo the Condor began to jettison its bombs. By this time Flynn was 40 miles from the ships he was protecting. Unable to get a response on the radio he headed NW, climbed to 3000 ft and sighted the ships after about 10 min. Another Condor appeared and Flynn was instructed to get out of the way while the heavy AA of the HMS Scylla opened fire.
Stuart had already bailed out, having been advised that if you tried ditching a Hurricane you'd be 40 ft under water before you got the canopy open. Once in the water he climbed in his dingy, fired off his signal rockets and proceeded to eat his rations before being picked up. Flynn bailed out, got in his dingy, and was picked up by an escort vessel after about 52 min in the air and 10 min in the water. He cut it close; the light began to fail 10 min after he was picked up.
Sounds like quite a day at sea! Too bad there were no pictures.
An RAF fighter pilot, James Stuart DFC, was serving on a CAM equipped ship, the Empire Darwin. The ship and the rest of the convoy sailed from Gibraltar on 23 July 1943. On the evening of the 28th they found they were being shadowed by Luftwaffe FW-200 Condor bombers as they were passing West of the Condor base at Boradeaux, France.
Stuart was waiting in readiness in the cockpit of his Hurricane 1 so he could be catapulted aloft to engage the Condors. Suddenly a Condor appeared to starboard at only about 150 ft altitude. They prepared to launch Stuart but then a USAAF B-24 appeared and attacked the Condor. The two four engined airplanes flew side by side, guns blazing way at each other, and after a full minute of battle the port engine of the Condor caught fire. The B-24 climbed away while the Condor jettisoned its bombs and then hit the ocean.
Soon thereafter an SOS signal was received from the B-24; it did not make land, but no ships were detached from the convoy to search for it..
Two more Condors were seen at high altitude and the decision as made to launch the Hurricat but then yet another Condor was seen at 500 ft altitude 10 miles away and was pointed out to Stuart.
Stuart launched and began firing at the Condor from 300 yards, attacking from the port side out of the sun. The return fire from the Condor was intense but missed the Hurricane and Stuart bored in to point blank range, firing at the cockpit. There was a brilliant flash from near the Condor's forward turret.
Turning back for a 2nd attack, Stuart's guns jammed or ran out of ammo after only a half second burst. The FW-200 crashed into the sea, not seen by Stuart but verified by an observer in the convoy.
Stuart then noticed AA fire on the port side of the convoy and sighted a Condor, which he made dummy attacks on. The Condor dumped its bombs on a straggling ship and disappeared into a cloud.
Another Condor was sighted 12 miles away at 500 ft altitude. The Empire Tide launched its CAM Hurricane, piloted by P.J.R. Flynn. Flynn attacked the Condor from the rear port quarter firing a 2 sec burst at 300 yards. Breaking off, Flynn climbed into the sun and attacked from the port side hitting the cockpit area, but the Hurricane was hit by return fire, mainly in the wings.
Flynn decided he should silence the gunners and sprayed the rear fuselage, then closing to 100 yards and shooting at the front turret.
He next went after the outer and inner port engines but found the return fire as bad as before. A large hole appeared in the Hurricane's port wing and the canopy was shattered. But the Condor's port engines began to smoke.
As he closed in for his final attack and exhausted the rest of his ammo the Condor began to jettison its bombs. By this time Flynn was 40 miles from the ships he was protecting. Unable to get a response on the radio he headed NW, climbed to 3000 ft and sighted the ships after about 10 min. Another Condor appeared and Flynn was instructed to get out of the way while the heavy AA of the HMS Scylla opened fire.
Stuart had already bailed out, having been advised that if you tried ditching a Hurricane you'd be 40 ft under water before you got the canopy open. Once in the water he climbed in his dingy, fired off his signal rockets and proceeded to eat his rations before being picked up. Flynn bailed out, got in his dingy, and was picked up by an escort vessel after about 52 min in the air and 10 min in the water. He cut it close; the light began to fail 10 min after he was picked up.
Sounds like quite a day at sea! Too bad there were no pictures.
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