William
Mander in the cockpit of a Hudson. (picture
courtesy of Mr. Rob Mander)
His crew consisted of:
pilot P/O B.
V. Hunter
Navigator Sgt N. A. Penstone
Wireless Operator Sgt W. H. Golding
Wireless Operator Sgt J. Fryett
Air gunner Sgt J. K. Baker
Air gunner Sgt R. W. Kinsey
The crew had a
hairy escape late June 1942 when on a
mission (probably) to Bremen. The crews were
told that German night fighters would be
very active against bombers leaving the
target area. It was suggested that crews
might want to come out of the target area at
low level. As bombing was done at 20,000
feet, this meant a steep dive after the bomb
release.
P/O Hunter
took this advice and put the plane into a
steep dive right after 'bombs away'. To the
horror of some of the crew he leveled out at
practically rooftop level and continued at
this height towards the coast.
After crossing
the coast they observed some ships and
decided to investigate. Right after the
navigator (on this trip that was F/S Carl
Sorsdahl) suggested these might be flak
ships, his assumption proved to be true when
all hell broke loose. The Germans had the
Halifax in a blinding searchlight and were
shooting with all that they had. The Halifax
was flying so low that it hit a sandbank,
bounced a couple of times on the surface,
but became airborne again without loosing
too much speed! There was sand everywhere in
the plane and the crew found out that the
propeller of the outer starboard engine was
sheared off. The inner engine was also
damaged but pilot P/O Hunter managed to keep
the Halifax airborne just above stalling
speed. Miraculously they managed to reach
England and land without much trouble. P/O
Hunter was mentioned in dispatches for this
action.
(picture
courtesy of Mr. Rob Mander)
A month later
they crew was not so lucky. On 26/27 July
1942 they were on a mission to Hamburg.
Flying Halifax W1153 DY-H, they bombed again
from 20,000 feet. Again P/O Hunter used his
tactic of putting his plane in a steep dive
and coming out of the target area at rooftop
level. Unfortunately they crossed the coast
right over the harbour of Emden, which
forced him to tale the Halifax up to 200 -
300 feet. A prefect height for the German
flak gunners, who threw everything at the
bomber. The Halifax was hit, killing the
navigator, Sgt. Penstone and taking out both
port engines. Not being able to keep the
plane flying, P/O Hunter had no choice but
to ditch the plane in the Dollart Basin.
Right after P/O Hunter, Sgt Fryett and Sgt
Kinsey climbed on top of the Halifax,
expecting it to sink. But as it turned out,
the plane rested on the bottom. F/S Mander
was killed in his position. When the tide
went out, the rear turret was seen to
separate from the plane, the rear gunner,
Sgt Baker, apparently left the plane and was
drifting in his floatation suit.
Shortly after
another bomber appeared at low level and
ditched not far from their plane. This
turned out to be another 102 Sqn Halifax,
piloted by Sgt. Wilson.
The three
airmen were
taken prisoner later that day, when they
waded ashore.
The body of
Sgt. Mander was recovered and buried in
Delfzijl. The bodies of Sgt. Baker and Sgt.
Penstone were also recovered and buried
(after the war) at Sage War Cemetery in
Germany.
(picture
courtesy of Mr. Rob Mander)
Sgt. Mander is
buried at Delfzijl General Cemetery, Plot B.
Class 2B. Row 22. Grave 295.
(Picture by
Wim Bastiaanse)
