A BRUSH WITH ZEROS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 40, 19 January 1943, Page 6

A BRUSH WITH ZEROS

Official War Correspondent Advanced Pacific Airbase, Dec. 20. Superb teamwork and air tactics carried a reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force safely through a brisk running battle with three Japanese long-range Zero lighters. Lasting 17 minutes, the engagement was broken off by the Japanese after they had failed to out-manoeuvre the New Zealand machine. Captained by a North Canterbury pilot, Flying-Officer G. Gudsell, the aircraft had. sighted and reported to base the presence of a Japanese naval task force. It. was: continuing to observe the ships' movements when three Zeros dived on it with the sun behind them. They jettisoned their extra facl tanks as they attacked.

As if on the bridge of a warship, Flying-Officer Gudsell directed his aircraft by remote control. He left his co-pilot to flf the. plane, and took up a standing position from which he could watch the Zeros at their constant attempts to> close in. Through the inter-communication telephone system he kept up a running fire of warnings and orders to the co-pilot and to the members of the crew who manned, the match ine guns: "There's a so-and-so coming in from ten o'clock!" or "Hard to starboard!" or "Hard to port!" They knew what to do, and for more than a quarter of an hour the New Zealand machine weaved and twisted and banked its way out of the enemy's sights. Japanese gunbursts, flying wide, raised harmless but unpleasant spurts of water on the sea. The New Zelanders fought back with their own guns, squirting lead, at the Zeros at every brief opportunity. Only three bullets hit the New Zealand plane. An especially sharp turn possibly saved Flying-Officer GudsclFs life; it threw him off his balance, and before he could scramble back to his feet a Japanese bullet ploughed into the. machine where his head had been. It narrowly missed the head, too, as it whistled out through the windscreen.