My father and his mates on their landing craft (LCM) chased after a guy in his parachute a few days after the Normandy landings. It was getting towards dusk and they tried to get to him before he went into the water, or as close as they could before he did anyway. However, their landing craft wasn't the fastest of craft on a good day, and the wind carried the guy along the channel at some pace, rather than letting him come downwards. They lost sight of him in the dusk and never really got close to him at all. They had no clue as to what side he was on, but it didn't matter to them, they just wanted to rescue the guy. My father always regretted not knowing what happened to the man in the parachute, as he was blown along the Channel.
Thank you for sharing that wonderful story, I can't imagine how harrowing it must've been to not be able to rescue the pilot. I think it's easy to lose sight when playing these games, that for the pilots it was life and death. If you had to bail out mid channel, there were no guarantees of being rescued. Unless they were close to a ship, there were no location beacons, no survival suits and the most basic of life jackets. I think the end of this mission brought home to me you were just as likely to lose your life through mechanical failure, running out of fuel or bailing out in a bad spot.
My father and his mates on their landing craft (LCM) chased after a guy in his parachute a few days after the Normandy landings. It was getting towards dusk and they tried to get to him before he went into the water, or as close as they could before he did anyway.
However, their landing craft wasn't the fastest of craft on a good day, and the wind carried the guy along the channel at some pace, rather than letting him come downwards. They lost sight of him in the dusk and never really got close to him at all. They had no clue as to what side he was on, but it didn't matter to them, they just wanted to rescue the guy.
My father always regretted not knowing what happened to the man in the parachute, as he was blown along the Channel.
Thank you for sharing that wonderful story, I can't imagine how harrowing it must've been to not be able to rescue the pilot.
I think it's easy to lose sight when playing these games, that for the pilots it was life and death. If you had to bail out mid channel, there were no guarantees of being rescued. Unless they were close to a ship, there were no location beacons, no survival suits and the most basic of life jackets.
I think the end of this mission brought home to me you were just as likely to lose your life through mechanical failure, running out of fuel or bailing out in a bad spot.