Diary of a Night Fighter Pilot 1939 - 1945 by Douglas Haig Greaves

Author:Douglas Haig Greaves [Greaves, Douglas Haig]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Suzanne Marshall
Published: 2016-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

Parachute landings at night are always dangerous and often result in broken limbs or sprained ankles at the least. We also have to take into account that the country is very mountainous round here. I call up the controller and tell him of my decision and he says he will get every possible light on at Bone for me. The controller is Squadron Leader Brown and he is very helpful. He says, “Bail out if you have any doubts about it. It is you we want not the aeroplane.”

I have made up my mind to try and land now so I continue to lose height. Charlie says he can see the floodlight some way behind so I manage to do a turn towards it. I do a very steep approach and, as soon as I see a runway, aim the machine straight for it. I had intended to land with my wheels up but as the position looks better than anticipated, I put them down at the last minute. The approach is very fast because I have to keep the starboard engine open to keep straight and I have to literally fly it at the ground. We touch the runway near the floodlight and I brake violently. I see a parked Spitfire on the side and miss it by about six inches. We overshoot the runway and hit a tent with the port wheel which collapses the undercarriage and swings the aircraft round. Charlie and I leap out of the top hatches and I am pleased to see that he is O.K. It is impossible to describe how good the earth feels after a trip like that.

Almost immediately, fire engines and ambulances dash up to us. They have apparently been standing by expecting the worst. We examine our aircraft and find that all the canvas is burned off the starboard aileron and some of the elevators. The machine is blackened all over with smoke and oil and the paintwork is badly blistered. The ambulance runs us to the Operations room where we get a good reception. The Duty Controller rings up a hotel in Bone which has been taken over by the RAF to get us a room and asks the cook to make us a hot meal. He also arranges for transport to take us there.

The Hotel St Cloud is situated right on the front of Bone Bay. The calm water lapping the sands looks very beautiful as we drive up. It is so quiet and peaceful here that it is difficult to connect it to the fiery battle we had 10,000 feet above less than an hour before. I am pleased to get to bed and have no trouble going to sleep as I feel completely exhausted. The strain of those minutes before the kill was very great even though I did not notice it all the time.

Next morning I am awake quite early and do not feel like sleeping again so I get dressed and have a stroll along the sands.

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