Allied airmen rescued by German U-boats

[Rainer]

U-30 (Oblt Fritz-Julius Lemp) rescued two airmen of two Blackburn Skua in M.Qu. AM 1972 (approx. 56°39'N, 15°24'W, about 280 nautical miles west-northwest of Malin Head) at 1545hrs on 14 September 1939. The U-boat had stopped the British merchant FANAD HEAD and prepared to sink her, but alerted by a distress signal the British aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL on anti-submarine patrol sent a strike force of three Skuas to their position. The first aircraft that arrived at the scene was hit by shrapnel from its own bombs and crashed, the second was not able to find the U-boat as it had dived and the third eventually crashed in an almost exact repetition of the events that led to the loss of the first Skua. Both observers were lost and the pilots taken prisoner by the Germans.

1939-09-14, 803 Sqn FAA, Skua Mk.II, L2873, A7M
Crashed due to damage received from own bombs, loss 100%
Pilot Lt Thurston, R.P., FAA, WIA/POW
Observer PO Simpson, James, FAA/FX 55041, +

1939-09-14, 803 Sqn FAA, Skua Mk.II, L2957, A7K
Crashed due to damage received from own bombs, loss 100%
Pilot Lt Griffiths, Guy Beresford Kerr, FAA/RM, POW
Observer PO McKay, George Vincent, FAA/FX 76293, +