[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

In 1995, Macmillan Canada, published a folio entitled,"So Many". One of the airmen commemorated in the volume was, Flt Lt D. Elliott, QC, PhD. There is a two-page biography on Elliott, a candid portrait, and some of Elliott's memorabilia. On page 119 there is an account, by Elliott, of the shoot down of Wellington T2880:

30% of all R.A.F. bomber aircraft destroyed over Western Europe, were shot down by German flak batteries. Early in the morning of July 8, 1941 Wellington "O for Orange" in which I was flying as the observer, became one such aircraft.

Eric Masters, our pilot, called me over the intercom, telling me to jettison the bombs because he was going to take the aircraft down on the deck. I had just done so when he called out, "bail out, bail out".

Although I was lying on the door used by the crew to enter and exit the plane, my parachute was back under my navigator's table.

For some reason, probably because I forgot to pull the ripcord, my parachute did not open immediately. I now believe that it did not do so until I was below 1,000 feet.
I landed in a farmer's field, in a minute or two, German troops from a nearby flak battery arrived and as their commander told me "For you, The war is over"!

Signed: D. Elliott - November, 1994. (Camps:7C/10C/6B/21B/L3 - POW No.1620)

See:
So Many: A Folio Dedicated to All Who Served with Bomber Command 1939-45
Gunston,Bill (ed.)
Canada:Macmillan Canada,1995
pp.114-121.

Theo Boiten's, Nachtjagd Combat Archive - The Early Years - Part 1 - 1939-12 July 1941/Red Kite, should tell you more.

Col.