TRUST THE R. A. F.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 7, 2 September 1940, Page 2

TRUST THE R. A. F.

.... SAYS NOEL MONKS, WHO WAS IN FRANCE FOR 9 MONTHS I came back to England with the last stragglers of the Advanced Air I Striking Forcc, that pathetically small but heroic air arm that met the full blast of the Nazi Blitzkrieg on May 10 —and onwards. The A A.S.F. stragglers, a sergeant pilot, observer, and gunner, all slightly wounded, and I came home in a civilian refugee ship from Bordeaux. As far as we knew, wo were the last of the "outfit" that, in the peaceful days of SeptemberOctober, touched down in France and was headquartered at the champagne town of Rheims. That H.Q. lasted for eight months, but in the last six weeks we had three others. The two fighter squadrons had been sent out got action within a month of Iheir arrival. The bomber boys had to wait eight months, and the stories of their actions, told fully in squadron log-books will make some of the most heroic and colourful pages in British history in the years to come. As it turned out, our Hurricane fighters, only rated as our third best, proved more than a match #or anything the enemy sent over. I attribute this more to the skill and courage of our fighter pilots than to the actual ascendancy of Hurricanes over Messerschmitt 110's. So there we had a small force of first-rate pilots and crews causing havoc among the enemy, both on the ground with bombing operations and in the air in combat. Ami from friends, the pilots and crews, we knew what was going on. We knew that we were living among a race of heroes. We heard stories that, even if we couldn't write them made our hearts beat with pride. I got to know the men of the R A.F.. and in the days to come here in England, the neAV battlefront. that knowledge will keep my spirits soaring, should they ever flag. For the Royal Air Force is unconquered and unconquerable. Every bomb dlropped in England will be avenged a hundredfold in Germany. Put your trust in the R.A.F. Their thumbs are up!