Читать книгу Amazing Airmen - Ian Darling - Страница 14

2 PATCHWORK

An intelligence officer told Warrant Officer Frank Cauley and his ten crewmates that he wanted them to find a German submarine in the Atlantic, several hundred kilometres off the west coast of Ireland. At a pre-flight briefing session, the officer told the crew that the sub was U-625. He knew its number because the Allies had broken the Enigma code that the German Navy used to communicate with its submarines. He also knew the general area where U-625 was located.

Cauley listened carefully. The crew had to sink the sub because it was close to an American convoy carrying troops and supplies to Britain. The airmen were excited because this was their first assignment as a crew.

Cauley, twenty-two, was the navigator on Sunderland flying boat EK591, flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 422 Squadron. The squadron was based at the Royal Air Force station at Castle Archdale, beside Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. Sunderlands were big, powerful aircraft with a fuselage that was like the hull of a boat. They were ideal planes to search for submarines because they could remain in the air for the long patrols needed to spot subs, and could land on water.