SEPTEMBER 17TH. - NORTH SUNDERLAND, AND HOLY ISLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND.

At 12.25 in the morning the coastguard reported that an aeroplane had crashed into the sea one and a half miles north by east of Seahouses. She was an American Flying Fortress which had been in the air since 11 the previous morning. Her wireless had failed and she had lost her bearings.

Just as she reached land her fuel had come to an end and she had been forced down into the sea beside the Farne Islands. The weather was fine, and the sea smooth. The motor life-boat W.R.A. was launched at 1.15 A.M. and found eight of the aeroplane’s crew on one of the islands. One of them was badly injured. They had got out of the aeroplane into their dinghies, and so reached the island, but the Flying Fortress had sunk in a few minutes, and two of the crew had gone down with her. Two members of the life-boat’s crew who had received firstaid training in the Home Guard, attended to the injured man. They found that his leg was broken, and put it in splints. Then, using a rubber dinghy as a stretcher, they carried him to the life-boat across three hundred yards of rocks. With the eight rescued airmen on board the life-boat reached her station again at 2.45 A.M. She went back again to the island and finally returned at 4.45 A.M. The Holy Island motor life-boat was also launched at 12.58 in the morning. She searched for some time without finding anything and returned at 7.15.-Rewards : North Sunderland, £15 9s. ; and Holy Island, £13 16s. 9d..