Sgt Trevor Ganley, an RNZAF Air Gunner in a Hudson, had a remarkble set of events that he survived.
On patrol, the solo Hudson was attacked over the sea in the Pacific by eight Zero’s. The pilot struggled to evade them, and though hit by bullets from one of the attacks, Ganley managed to shoot down one of them. The aircraft however was doomed, and pilot Flt Lt Allison made a perfect water landing. All the five crew and their passenger escaped the sinking aircraft, only to have these Zeros continue their attack and strafe them in the water.
Of the six of them, only Ganley survived the strafing. Everyone else was killed. He was now in the water with his dead crew, a sinking aircraft and no raft. He was then forced to swim two miles through the sea, with wounds (he had a seriously injured middle finger an shrapnel had struck him in the hip and splinters hit him in the forehead).
On reaching land, he spent a few days before being discovered by a coast watcher, whom he stayed with for a month in hiding before being picked up by a PT Boat from the US Navy and returned to base.
Sgt Ganley returned to base 37 days after the crash.
He was from my home town of Cambridge, NZ. You can read more detail of this story on my website here
http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Trevor%20Ganley.htm
Sign In
