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The Bismarck and the Catalina at Castle Archdale

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 war site by Joan Thompson of SEELB staff on behalf of Howard Wilson and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

In 1938 at the age of sixteen I moved from my home in Castleblaney to Enniskillen to start my apprenticeship to the hardware business. It was a big change but not as big as the change the arrival of the War in 1939 made to my life.

When war began Joseph Lusty, manager of the Enniskillen Gas Works, and Deputy Controller of the ARP, was charged with forming the Auxiliary Fire Service and he and my departmental manager who was also a member of the ARP volunteered me as the second member to join the AFS. In the early days the only equipment we had were stirrup pumps and water buckets for use in extinguishing incendiary bombs.

During 1940 we were issued a Beresford Stork trailer fire pump and an old Hillman Coupe car as towing unit. In May 1941 the pump for the
first time was to prove its worth as the story below will explain.

History relates that towards the later part of May 1941 Bismarck and another German battleship broke out of the Baltic into the North Sea where they were eventually sighted by HMS Hood and another British warship. During this encounter Hood was sunk and due to adverse weather conditions contact with the German ships was lost until some considerable time later when Bismarck was again sighted by a Catalina flying boat from Castle Archdale, Northern Ireland. During this encounter the Catalina sustained severe damage to the hull from enemy gunfire. However not many people know that it was the Auxiliary Fire Service crew from Enniskillen which saved the damaged Catalina from sinking and helped get it safely back to base.

We got a mysterious call through ARP control to attend an incident at Castle Archdale and to report to the warrant officer at the main entrance. He asked if our pump was portable and capable of being secured to a barge type boat. This was accomplished; the pump, another fireman Andy Smith and I were transported across Lough Erne to the Boa Island area. When we got there we discovered the Catalina partially submerged and the hull of the flying boat half full of water.

Out task was to pump the hull dry and keep the Catalina afloat to enable the RAF engineers to carry out emergency repairs. As some of the most severe damage was inaccessible, it being underwater, blankets soaked with cement were used to seal the leaks. Andy Smith and I returned to the site for two more exhausting days keeping the Catalina afloat while this temporary repair work was carried out.

The most dramatic part of the rescue was on the third day. We were towed out alongside the Catalina with its engines running to the take off area of the lake all the time feeling the severe blast from the engine exhaust and propeller. When the pilot was ready to attempt to take off we disengaged but at the first attempt one engine stalled and the Catalina came to a stop some distance away. By the time we reached her again the hull had taken on a considerable amount of water which had to be pumped out before another attempt could be made. The next attempt was successful and the Catalina finally became airborne. It had been a rather hair raising experience.

The pilot flew in a wide turn low over us to express his thanks before he made his way to a base in England to get major repairs done. What the pilot did not realize was that on take off he again picked up a lot of water which he unintentionally dumped on us as he left!

It wasn鈥檛 till some years later that I found out that the Catalina we had helped save was the one which sited the Bismarck and that we had played a small part in history without ever realizing!

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