MARCH 2 3 RD. - NEWCASTLE, CO. DOWN. At 3.45 P .M. information was received that an aeroplane had crashed, and the motor life-boat L. P. and St. Helen was launched at 4.5 P.M. A moderate easterly wind was blowing, with a choppy sea.

Aeroplanes dropped flares to guide the lifeboat and an hour later the life-boat found and rescued the pilot of a Spitfire in a rubber dinghy, nine miles E.S.E. of Newcastle harbour.

His engine had failed and he had had to bale out. He was uninjured, though suffering from shock, and was able to return to his station the following morning. On the way back the life-boat found another and larger dinghy, from a bombing aeroplane, and brought it in. She handed over the dinghies and other aircraft gear to the coastguard, and returned to her station, arriving at 6 P.M. - Rewards, £28 1s. 6d..