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Wednesday, August 4, 1943Sgt. Pilot i. McIntosh Distinguished FlyerPlucky native non of Medicine Hut, Sgt. Jack Mcliilosh already has an illustrious pilot’s career behind him. His incredible landing of a crippled Halifax bomber after an operational flight won for him distinguished comment and dispatch publicity. He is the son of Sgt George McIntosh of the city police force, and graduated from No. 7 S.F.T.S. at Macleod. He recently celebrated his 21st birthday delivering “gifts” to the Nazis. Following is an Item which appeared in the R.C.A.F. publication “Wings”:The Canadian pilot and navigator,, fipe latter, badly wounded, of an R.C. A.F. Halifax, brought thiir bullet-riddled bomber safely back over the North Sea last March, while flames smouldered inches away from mines hung up” in the bomb bays. They are Sgt. Pilot J. McIntosh, of Medicine Hat, Alta, and Sgt. Arthur Mellin, Duncan, B.C. A third Canadian in the crew was Sgt. Diok Doe, of Barrie, Ont., front gunner.They were mine-laying when an enemy fighter attacked from behind and below. “Nobody saw it, said Sgt. McIntosh, “and it raked us with shells from back to front. Bits of phosphorus from incendiaries wete burning in little spots on my hands.”Later they found that the flight engineer and rear-gunner died A the sudden burst of cannon and machirrt*-gun fire, while Sgt. Mellin was wounded in the leg., The: aircraft dropped from almost 1.000 feet to 400 feet at once. McIntosh would have given orders to bale tout but could not get his inter-eom \t° work. He straightened out the Halifax’s course and the wireless operator got the inter-com working again. The fire in the bomb bays was noticed and McIntosh told crew to “stand by for ditching.” Sgt. Doe and the bomb-aimer fought tho. fire with extinguishers for over an♦hour before bringing dtumder control. '■ ;Meanwhile Mellin managed to take j over part of the flight engineer’s ] job. “We diefn't'know until we landed . that it was the parachutes on top of ‘ several mines that were burning,” explained McIntosh. “They were ( hung up in the bays and hadn’t gone when wc thought they had.” ,Mellin worked out. a course with ^ the help of McIntosh and the wire- ^ less operator. He stayed at his post until the Halifax was about to land. -Then he passed out. 'McIntosh has missed death by inches from shells that struck the ' perspex over his head.Landing was difficult. The hydraulics were gone, the wing flaps ; would not come down and speed could not be reduced. McIntosh4 land- j ed the huge aircraft at fbver- 100 -mph with several liy§ mines aboard. ; The wreckage of the ‘ shot-up rear wheel dugijinto tj)e runway and stop- , ped them only 50 yards from a fence.■ V--
Newspaper Details
Medicine Hat Daily News
Medicine Hat, Alberta, CA
Wed, Aug 04, 1943
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 08 Mar 2024
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