HIS BAD LUCK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 7

HIS BAD LUCK.

N.Z. PILOT ANNOYED. Engine Fails In Adventurous Trip To Berlin. UriUsli Officii'.? Wireless. RUGBY, Sept. 17. j The Dominions were strongly represented in Sunday night's adventurous flight by the Royal Air Force over; Germany. One of the angriest men in the Royal Air Force is a New Zealand wing-commander who was within five minutes' flying distance of his main target in Berlin when one of his engines froze up. "I had to let go my bombs on an alternative objective," he said, "and flew up out of the soup on one engine. After about 10 minutes the other engine picked up again, and we headed for home. I have never had such a pasting as we got over Bremen on the way back. The tailplane was riddled." A piece of shrapnel penetrated the cockpit and tore fur from the pilot's collar, hit armour plating behind the seat, tore some fur from the observer's flying suit, and then landed on the navigator's table. The second pilot, also a New Zealander, was in the front of the machine and a piece of metal came through the glass at one side, whizzed past his nose and went out the other side. A pilot from Ottawa tola of a 7000 ft dive near the mouth of the Elbe with the controls frozen. "I was in the front turret at the time testing the gun and looking out to see what kind of landfall we were making," he said. "Suddenly I realised from the rush of wind that, we were in a dive and spinning slightly. I scrambled back to the cockpit, where I found the second pilot trying his hardest to get the machine back on a level keel. I got alongside him and helped to pull, and at about 7000 ft the aircraft came out, but not before the fabric had been stripped off the ailerons and part of the main plane, I dropped my bombs into the sea and came back 300 miles or so to my base." Another New Zealander figured in a third incident while over Berlin. He was searching for his target when one of his engines stopped, but they continued the search for 10 minutes, found the Tempelho.f aerodrome, dropped their bombs or it and turned for home. QUEEN'S GJFT. FURNITURE FOR EAST END. (Reed. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17. Her Majesty the Queen is sending a number of suites of furniture from Windsor, Castle to help refurnish damaged homes in the East End!.