Baling Out - Douglas Waters' Escape
Title
Baling Out - Douglas Waters' Escape
Description
Two copies of an article written about Douglas and his successful baling out from a Wellington.
Date
1941-03-13
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two typewritten sheets
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
MWatersDW910761-200907-02, MWatersDW910761-200907-020001, MWatersDW910761-200907-020002
Transcription
NAME: DOUGLAS WATERS
RANK: SERGEANT
SQ: 214 SQ/WELLINGTON 1C
BASE: STRADISHAL
DATE: NIGHT 13TH-14TH MARCH 1941
Baling out of an aircraft at low level was extremely hazardous. Whilst there were some incredible escapes during the war by aircrew who left their crashing aircraft low down, normally the chute failed to open in time and they were killed. It required a miracle or some say divine intervention to save them. Divine intervention came in the shape of trees by the side of the road for Douglas Waters. They caught the partly opened chute as he fell through them and slowed his rate of descent leaving him hanging ten foot from the ground.
The 13th March had been very much a normal wartime day, the briefing for his fourth trip had not been memorable and they had set off from Stradishal without any difficulty or problems. At this stage of the war the raids were not as concentrated as they would become and the German nightfighter defences were only just really becoming effectively organised. This does not mean that they were ineffective on an individual basis. They like the RAF had not been geared up to defend against night attacks and it would take time to fully develop the complicated control system which in later years would be so effective although finally overwhelmed in late 1944/45.
After crossing the Dutch coast the Wellington I was pounded by heavy flak but they came safely through this without a hit or damage. Out of the flak belt they may have felt safe but perhaps it was here that they were picked by the Me110 night fighter which was to shoot them down, crewed by Ofw. Glidner, pilot and Uffz. R. Muller, of the 4de Staffel based at Leeuwarden. Flying in the front turret that night W/OP A/G Waters heard the attack of the fighter and was given the order to prepare to bale out. He left the front turret quickly, clipped on his chute and assembled with the rest of the crew around the front hatch. The captain, Sgt.. Elder pointed to the hatch with a gloved hand and he jumped out.
Fortunately he pulled the ripcord straight away. He describes the few seconds between leaving the aircraft and landing as follows:-
“When I jumped plane was I estimated between four hundred and five hundred feet from the ground. My chute opened but before it had fully opened I fell into some roadside trees which broke my fall. When falling I saw the trees but was unable to avoid them, I fell through the trees and stopped as my chute caught in the topmost branches. With no real impact as such I came to a stop. Left dangling from my chute about ten feet from the ground. Fortunately I missed the main boughs of the tree in my fall.”
To release himself Douglas had to climb up into the trees and unzip his parachute harness then fell approximately twelve/thirteen feet to the ground. The row of trees lay alongside a road. This road lead to the German/Dutch border only a short distance away, with a customs/police station on the crossing point. The parachute having saved his life was left hanging in tree, which had also played a major part in keeping him alive. He had little chance to escape and describes what happened next:-
“I landed near a farmhouse and when I jumped to the ground I was surrounded by about six to eight Dutch people. The border post was as I landed about three hundred yards away. The local cops
[page break]
arrived on bicycles within minutes. So I was arrested and taken to the police station. A walk which took about three to four minutes. Firstly to the border post at Jipsinghuizen manned by Dutch Police. At about two thirty am I was collected by the Luftwaffe and taken to Leeuwarden air base, given a meal. Ham and bread. Then taken by car to Amsterdam and lodged in the prison overnight. The next day I was taken with another RAF airman who had been shot down the previous night, and also was a sole survivor, to the Dulag Luft travelling by train.”
Travelling by train he did not experience any hostility and spent the first part of his captivity in Stalag Luft I at Barth. During the next four years and two months he was to spend time in a number of the German establishments for housing POW’s, Stalag Luft III, back to Stalag Luft I, Stalag Luft VI, Stalag Luft IV, Fallingsbostal XI (could this be a unwanted record for a prisoner I wonder). Finally he was released by the 6th Airborne whilst on the march on or about 30th April 1945.
In the lottery that is life who knows why some live and some die it cannot be determined by mere mortals. The waved glove by his comrade and pilot Sgt. Elder gave Douglas a chance. The parachute and the tree did the rest. A few seconds later or a few feet either way and undoubtedly Douglas would have died, as did the remainder of his crew. During May 1999 he visited Holland and is pictured below in front of their grave at Gronigen. He has been married fifty years, pursued a successful career both in the UK and abroad, has three sons, four grandchildren, all thanks to Sgt. Elder, a parachute and a tree.
[page break]
[duplicate of page one]
[page break]
[duplicate of page two]
RANK: SERGEANT
SQ: 214 SQ/WELLINGTON 1C
BASE: STRADISHAL
DATE: NIGHT 13TH-14TH MARCH 1941
Baling out of an aircraft at low level was extremely hazardous. Whilst there were some incredible escapes during the war by aircrew who left their crashing aircraft low down, normally the chute failed to open in time and they were killed. It required a miracle or some say divine intervention to save them. Divine intervention came in the shape of trees by the side of the road for Douglas Waters. They caught the partly opened chute as he fell through them and slowed his rate of descent leaving him hanging ten foot from the ground.
The 13th March had been very much a normal wartime day, the briefing for his fourth trip had not been memorable and they had set off from Stradishal without any difficulty or problems. At this stage of the war the raids were not as concentrated as they would become and the German nightfighter defences were only just really becoming effectively organised. This does not mean that they were ineffective on an individual basis. They like the RAF had not been geared up to defend against night attacks and it would take time to fully develop the complicated control system which in later years would be so effective although finally overwhelmed in late 1944/45.
After crossing the Dutch coast the Wellington I was pounded by heavy flak but they came safely through this without a hit or damage. Out of the flak belt they may have felt safe but perhaps it was here that they were picked by the Me110 night fighter which was to shoot them down, crewed by Ofw. Glidner, pilot and Uffz. R. Muller, of the 4de Staffel based at Leeuwarden. Flying in the front turret that night W/OP A/G Waters heard the attack of the fighter and was given the order to prepare to bale out. He left the front turret quickly, clipped on his chute and assembled with the rest of the crew around the front hatch. The captain, Sgt.. Elder pointed to the hatch with a gloved hand and he jumped out.
Fortunately he pulled the ripcord straight away. He describes the few seconds between leaving the aircraft and landing as follows:-
“When I jumped plane was I estimated between four hundred and five hundred feet from the ground. My chute opened but before it had fully opened I fell into some roadside trees which broke my fall. When falling I saw the trees but was unable to avoid them, I fell through the trees and stopped as my chute caught in the topmost branches. With no real impact as such I came to a stop. Left dangling from my chute about ten feet from the ground. Fortunately I missed the main boughs of the tree in my fall.”
To release himself Douglas had to climb up into the trees and unzip his parachute harness then fell approximately twelve/thirteen feet to the ground. The row of trees lay alongside a road. This road lead to the German/Dutch border only a short distance away, with a customs/police station on the crossing point. The parachute having saved his life was left hanging in tree, which had also played a major part in keeping him alive. He had little chance to escape and describes what happened next:-
“I landed near a farmhouse and when I jumped to the ground I was surrounded by about six to eight Dutch people. The border post was as I landed about three hundred yards away. The local cops
[page break]
arrived on bicycles within minutes. So I was arrested and taken to the police station. A walk which took about three to four minutes. Firstly to the border post at Jipsinghuizen manned by Dutch Police. At about two thirty am I was collected by the Luftwaffe and taken to Leeuwarden air base, given a meal. Ham and bread. Then taken by car to Amsterdam and lodged in the prison overnight. The next day I was taken with another RAF airman who had been shot down the previous night, and also was a sole survivor, to the Dulag Luft travelling by train.”
Travelling by train he did not experience any hostility and spent the first part of his captivity in Stalag Luft I at Barth. During the next four years and two months he was to spend time in a number of the German establishments for housing POW’s, Stalag Luft III, back to Stalag Luft I, Stalag Luft VI, Stalag Luft IV, Fallingsbostal XI (could this be a unwanted record for a prisoner I wonder). Finally he was released by the 6th Airborne whilst on the march on or about 30th April 1945.
In the lottery that is life who knows why some live and some die it cannot be determined by mere mortals. The waved glove by his comrade and pilot Sgt. Elder gave Douglas a chance. The parachute and the tree did the rest. A few seconds later or a few feet either way and undoubtedly Douglas would have died, as did the remainder of his crew. During May 1999 he visited Holland and is pictured below in front of their grave at Gronigen. He has been married fifty years, pursued a successful career both in the UK and abroad, has three sons, four grandchildren, all thanks to Sgt. Elder, a parachute and a tree.
[page break]
[duplicate of page one]
[page break]
[duplicate of page two]
Collection
Citation
“Baling Out - Douglas Waters' Escape,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed February 12, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/35561.
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