THESE ARE FACTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 12, 6 October 1942, Page 5

THESE ARE FACTS

BELIEVE THEM OR NOT

SOME QUEER ADVENTURES

Fiction has long since ceased competition with Tact in the war to tiie north of Australia, because fiction must take some account of human credulity. Fact is not so bound: Believe them or not, here are a lew selections:— A Zero took a lew pot shots at an American bomber. The bomber's machine gunner tried to reply, but his gun Avoukl noa. work. Dismantled at the base it was found to have a. Japanese bullet wedged into the barrel. Of slightly smaller calibre, it had entered the muzzle and split into two pieces near the breech. A dead Japanese pilot brought down the only American machine during Uhe Independence Day raids. Zeros attacked and one of the American pilots after a burst from his gunner saw the Zero jerk down and the pilot slump down at the controls "as dead as could be." The Zero careered crazily round the sky. It passed just underneath the plane which had fired on i it, then zoomed upwards, hung a minute and came down in a steep dive. One plane did not have time to get out of its way and it was cut in half. The i Zero Avent down like a spray of shrapnel. Bitten by Snake Seventy miles irom his base au American pilot saw a queerly marked snake pear his left foot. He put the plane into a left, slip to spill the snake into a corner but it struck each time he touched the rudder bar. He threw the snake out and a» he began to feel sick he landed, in a dry swamp. With a crutch cuts from a tree he hobbled 'to a water hole, put on a tourniquet and made a mudrpack. A plane saw him and he wirelessed for medical aid. During the night he had to fire his machine guns to keep buffalo from damaging the plane. Next day, since he had no power in his left leg, he attached a piece of wood to the left rudder bar as a handle, took off and reached his base safely.

Forced down in the heart of New Guinea tthe crew of. an American bomber worked for a week in an effort to repair the plane, but they had to give it up. Then they cut their way through the jungle for four days and came upon a deserted trading post where they found the relies: of two ancient planes. One was a 'type in use when the las-t war bro'kc out. The engine was en.-« cased in rust, the propeller was smashed, the wings were rotting and full of holes and the struts were eaten through by white ants. The other was of 1917 vintage, but liacl been burnt out. It gave parts, however, to repair the older plane and after a week's, work the pilot took off, using a hidden store of motor car spirit. He was within 15 feet of the top of the 8000 feet range when a downdraught threw him in>io the mountain side and fractured both his legs. lit took him hours to extricate himself. The crew found him, put his legs in bamboo splints,' put him in an improvised litter aixl set off again. This time an Australian saw them, made a hazardous landing in a clearing and took them to their base. . A Japanese bullet hit the release .handle of the rubber boat oh an American bomber and the boat, being deflated, wrapped itself round the elevator on the 'tail, preventing the plane from rising. For 60 miles the pilot dodged and twisted above the water with a chasing it. Two rear gunners hacked through the fuselige with their jack knives axid poked a metal bar through the hole 'to try to dislodge the boat, but it Avould not budge. Then they jettisoned all gear and, pushed theirway into the tail. This tilted the plane and brought them up, but they had to land by a coral reef and live in an evacuated settlement until they were rescued.