OCTOBER 22ND. - HASTINGS, SUSSEX.

At 2.57 P.M. a message was received from the coastguard that an aeroplane had come down in the sea S.E. of the Fairlight Coastguard Station A light E.S.E. breeze was blowing and the sea was smooth. At 3.15 P.M. the motor life-host Cyril and Lilian Bishop was launched, with an armed guard on board; Commander Highfield, the honorary secretary of the station, also went in the life-boat.

A German airman was found in a rubber dinghy. His aeroplane, a Messerschmidt 109 had been hit in the petrol tank when he was flying near London. He was taken on board the life-boat During the work of rescue an air battle was going on to the eastward, and a patrol boat escorted the life-boat part of the way on her return journey. The lifeboat returned to her station at 5.20 P.M. - Rewards, £31 6s. 2d.