Evening Post, 28 January 1944 EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) ITALY, January 22. Probably the only air gunner who ever fell several thousand feet tangled in his parachute harness, landed on his head, and lived to tell the story is Flight Sergeant Bob Frizzell, of Shirley, Christchurch, now serving in an R.A.F. Boston light bomber squadron in Italy. Frizzell was on his third night intruder raid behind the German lines in central Italy when his port engine failed. It was pitch dark. We were flying through thick cloud, but somehow we were getting back on one engine. Then when we were about 10 miles from home the second engine cut out, and the aircraft immediately went into a spin. Frizzell and his wireless operator jumped through the escape hatch. In his struggle to get out the twisting machine opened his parachute. Frizzell caught his leg in the parachute harness, was unable to untangle it, and landed head first in a soft ploughed paddock. His only injury was a severe jolt to his neck. The Boston crashed in flames a few hundred yards away. Frizzell, who was formerly with an Australian Ventura squadron in raids on France and Holland, is now one of the few New Zealanders flying with Boston intruders.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:34:56 +0000
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