Last Flight of NA337 – The Crash

0130 hrs   German gun crew of the anti-aircraft battery stationed on the bridge begin firing at the sound of an approaching bomber.

0130 hrs   NA-337 passes over the railroad bridge at Minnesund, the south end of Lake Mjosa and into the line of enemy fire.

0131 hrs   NA-337 is hit by flak in the starboard wing midway between the outer and inner engines.

 

 

0131 hrs   Number 4 (outer starboard) engine catches fire.

0132 hrs   F/L Turnbull banks north away from the guns and attempts to gain altitude

0133 hrs   F/S Weightman requests permission to return fire. It’s denied for fear of making the A/C more visible to the guns below.

0133 hrs   #4 engine is feathered to stop fuel flow to the fire.

0135 hrs   #3 engine catches fire.

0138 hrs   NA-337 is losing altitude and  power and her starboard wing is on fire. She will not make it back to England.

0139 hrs   F/L Turnbull makes the decision to ditch and orders the crew to their “ditching positions”

0141 hrs   NA-337 banks left over the village of Hammer and turns back over the lake flying into the wind.

0143 hrs   F/L Turnbull warns the crew to brace for impact.

0145 hrs   At approximately 0145, with her starboard wing in flames, NA-337 ditches onto Lake Mjosa.

 

 

 

 

0155 hrs   F/S Weightman regains consciousness alone in the A/C. He releases the dinghy and exits NA-337.

F/S Tom Weightman was knocked unconscious by the impact of the forced landing. He came to several minutes later, still in his ditching position and surrounded by water flooding the fuselage. Climbing through the upper escape hatch and out onto the wing he realized that the emergency dinghy had not automatically deployed. Weightman lowered himself back into the aircraft and manually released the dinghy. Climbing into the raft, he began to search for his crewmates. However the dark, the fog and the bitter cold made locating them impossible until it was too late. When he did finally see them at dawn, they had died from hypothermia.

 

0535 hrs   Dawn. F/S Weightman’s calls for help are heard soon after and he is rescued by locals

0855 hrs   Local police and German soldiers looking for crew from the downed A/C find Weightman and he is taken as a POW.

 

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