SEPTEMBER 16TH. - CLACTON - ON - SEA, ESSEX. At 11.45 A.M. an aeroplane was seen to crash into the sea, and at 11.52 A.M. the motor life-boat Edward Z. Dresden was launched. A light northerly breeze was blowing and the sea was calm. Four miles S.E. of Clacton Pier, on Gunfleet Sands, the lifeboat, found a British bomber, with a crew of three. They were standing on the wings, but were in no immediate danger. The water was so shallow that the stern of the life-boat touched the sands when she was still 100 yards away. She fired two lines with her line-throwing gun, but they fell short. The life-boat then asked the airmen to paddle towards her in their dinghy, and they were about to do so, when a speed boat from Brightlingsea came in and took them on board. The life-boat was then asked by wireless to get in touch with a drifter close by, and to help in an attempt to salve the aeroplane. The life-boat lent tools for the immediate removal of certain parts of the aeroplane, and after the aeroplane had been buoyed, so that it could be lifted later, the life-boat returned to her station, where she arrived at 5 P.M. - Rewards, £4 6s. 6d..