My speciality in the war was meterology: forecasting the weather by flying planes at various altitudes to take measurements to try to make as accurate a prediction as was possible at the time of future weather conditions. This was essential to strategic planning of key battles.

In January 1945, on our last sortie in a Fortress, we suffered such serious engine failure in both starboard engines, that I was obliged to give the order "Dinghy, Dinghy, Ditching, Ditching". At the time we were 600 miles out westwards over the storm-tossed Atlantic and flying at only 250 feet above sea-level, busily engaged in measuring temperatures, pressures and wind-speeds at that height. Consequently we had no time to bring the aircraft under control and we crashed into the sea.

On ditching, the Fortress broke its back and, of the eight members of crew, only three of us, the Flight Engineer, the Second Pilot and myself managed to escape and scramble into one of the dinghies which had been released. It was 2am and we were in pitch darkness except when the sky was lit up by a number of exploding flares.

We cut the dinghy free from the aircraft and discovered that we still had a Verey Pistol and several cartridges with us. When, despairingly, we shot off our last flare, we were amazed to see what we took to be the navigation lights of a ship. The seas were so mountainous that we could not tell whether it was a large ship far away or a smaller ship nearby. Fortunately for us it hove-to and stood by until dawn. By this time we were soaked to the skin and freezing with cold.

Photos show 251 Squadron in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1944 and 2005 - Peter Williams is fourth from the left in both photos

The ship turned out to be a fairly large American merchant-man named the "SS Harriet Tubman". As we afterwards learned, it was the captain of this Liberty Ship who came down a rope-ladder and helped us up on board. With almost a gale blowing and a very heavy, wintery swell, this was no mean feat. The Captain, Tom Walker, later received an award from the Royal Humane Society for his bravery in saving our lives.

This proved to be Coastal Command's last operation with the Flying Fortress and the type was grounded.

I've never managed to track down Captain Walker - maybe if this story is published I'll get the chance to thank him or his children.

Peter Williams - Llandaff, Cardiff - 2008