favorite anecdote

kapuhy · 01-20-11, 01:52 AM

The air attacks on U-30 during sinking of SS "Fanad Head" on September 14, 1939 were... well, embarassing - the boat, which has sent the prize crew to stopped merchant in order to scuttle it, has been bombed in sequence by several Skua and Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal while attempting to retrieve its prize crew. One aircraft missed, two not only missed but blew themselves up with their own bombs and one didn't have anything to attack with because it earlier dropped its ordnance into the sea by mistake. The pilots swam to the comandeered merchant and were taken prisoner when U-30 finally managed to retrieve its men.

Later, when Winston Churchill met one of the unfortunate pilots, he supposedly said "You were the bloody fool who failed to give me my first naval victory of this war. Weren't you?"

01-20-11, 01:52 AM	#5
kapuhy Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 874 Downloads: 72 Uploads: 3	The air attacks on U-30 during sinking of SS "Fanad Head" on September 14, 1939 were... well, embarassing - the boat, which has sent the prize crew to stopped merchant in order to scuttle it, has been bombed in sequence by several Skua and Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal while attempting to retrieve its prize crew. One aircraft missed, two not only missed but blew themselves up with their own bombs and one didn't have anything to attack with because it earlier dropped its ordnance into the sea by mistake. The pilots swam to the comandeered merchant and were taken prisoner when U-30 finally managed to retrieve its men. Later, when Winston Churchill met one of the unfortunate pilots, he supposedly said "You were the bloody fool who failed to give me my first naval victory of this war. Weren't you?"