September 26, 1944 – Midnight to 5:00 AM
As usual, it was rainy in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 26, 1944. Biddle's crew was scheduled to again head northeast, looking for u-boats off the Norwegian coast. The rain was horizontal over the airport, driven by strong northwesterly winds that whipped the barracks and bombers.
Around midnight, they had the usual pre-flight eggs and bacon in the mess. Three other crews were on patrol that night. Biddle was to take off first. Each bomber had its own assigned patrol area.
After Biddle and the crew had eaten, they gathered around the navigator, who let the others know the rather dismal weather reports. Neil had a habit of adding a joke to his briefing of the crew, and this time he added that if the weather were better, he would plot a course for Sweden, where they could relax, go on a pub crawl, and forget the war. The others went along with the joke, saying that Sweden sounded far better than rain-soaked north Scotland.
When they left the mess, they spoke with concern about the stormy weather, not because they feared the wind and rain, but because they did not want their patrol to be canceled at the last minute. Only a few days before they had to cancel a patrol because Biddle was suffering from a high fever. They did not want to miss out on another flight, so they hurried out and took their places aboard the aircraft they had been assigned to -- a Leigh-light equipped Wellington. The planes in the squadron were identified by a letter [in addition to] their registration number, and the assigned plane for Biddle's crew, NB811, was “S for Sugar” [A]. S for Sugar had a machine gun in the nose, four machine guns in the tail turret, and eight depth charges.
The crew's fears that the mission would be scrubbed were not realized – they got the green light for takeoff. “Here we go,” said the Captain over the intercom. He taxied onto the runway and turned the bomber into the wind. With visibility of barely half a kilometre, the wind thundered over its wings as the bomber took off an hour past midnight. The wind speed was about 50 knots – a “full storm” on the Beaufort scale. Although they did not know it at the time, they were the only crew to take off that night – the other crews were grounded as the weather continued to deteriorate after S for Sugar took off. [B]
They flew north first, over the Scottish east coast, before turning on a course to the patrol area. The weather gods took pity on them, and they had calm weather for the first few uneventful hours of the cruise over the North Sea. They were flying at the normal patrol height of 800 feet, about 50 miles from the Norwegian coast and roughly parallel to it, when the starboard engine failed.
As usual, it was rainy in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 26, 1944. Biddle's crew was scheduled to again head northeast, looking for u-boats off the Norwegian coast. The rain was horizontal over the airport, driven by strong northwesterly winds that whipped the barracks and bombers.
Around midnight, they had the usual pre-flight eggs and bacon in the mess. Three other crews were on patrol that night. Biddle was to take off first. Each bomber had its own assigned patrol area.
After Biddle and the crew had eaten, they gathered around the navigator, who let the others know the rather dismal weather reports. Neil had a habit of adding a joke to his briefing of the crew, and this time he added that if the weather were better, he would plot a course for Sweden, where they could relax, go on a pub crawl, and forget the war. The others went along with the joke, saying that Sweden sounded far better than rain-soaked north Scotland.
When they left the mess, they spoke with concern about the stormy weather, not because they feared the wind and rain, but because they did not want their patrol to be canceled at the last minute. Only a few days before they had to cancel a patrol because Biddle was suffering from a high fever. They did not want to miss out on another flight, so they hurried out and took their places aboard the aircraft they had been assigned to -- a Leigh-light equipped Wellington. The planes in the squadron were identified by a letter [in addition to] their registration number, and the assigned plane for Biddle's crew, NB811, was “S for Sugar” [A]. S for Sugar had a machine gun in the nose, four machine guns in the tail turret, and eight depth charges.
The crew's fears that the mission would be scrubbed were not realized – they got the green light for takeoff. “Here we go,” said the Captain over the intercom. He taxied onto the runway and turned the bomber into the wind. With visibility of barely half a kilometre, the wind thundered over its wings as the bomber took off an hour past midnight. The wind speed was about 50 knots – a “full storm” on the Beaufort scale. Although they did not know it at the time, they were the only crew to take off that night – the other crews were grounded as the weather continued to deteriorate after S for Sugar took off. [B]
They flew north first, over the Scottish east coast, before turning on a course to the patrol area. The weather gods took pity on them, and they had calm weather for the first few uneventful hours of the cruise over the North Sea. They were flying at the normal patrol height of 800 feet, about 50 miles from the Norwegian coast and roughly parallel to it, when the starboard engine failed.