A FIGHTER PILOT'S LIFE.

Chronicle (Levin), 17 August 1946, Page 4

A FIGHTER PILOT'S LIFE.

TALK TO JUNIOR CHAMBER DAYS OF MANY THRILLS The main item of interest at the usual fortnightly buffet tea, held by the Levin branch of the Junior Chamber of Commerce on Thursaay evening, was a talk by Mr. Don Gnffith, an ex-fighter pilot, on the life of a fighter pilot in England and on the Continent during tiie secpnd World War. Mr. Griffith reached England soon after the Battle "of Britaih, and served with the New Zealand Spitfire Squadroi. ' 5 and other fighter squadrons for fiVe - : years. He reached the rank of j riight-lieutenant and was awarded the D.F.C. Mr. Griffith, tracing the course of a typical pilot's life while on operations, said that when a new pilot reached his squadron, he was detailed to do ali the "dirty work," such as taxying aircraft and similar odd jobs. It was the idea of most of these pilots to dodge as much of this work as possible m nis first few months with the squaclron. The worst year for Fighter Command, he continued, was 1942, when our losses were greater than the Hun's. The reason was rhat our Spitfires at that time were outclassed by the Germans' star fighter, the Focke-Wulf 190. Until the squadrons received a new Mark of Spitfire things were definitely "sticky." At this stage the main work of fighters based on Britain was shipping and convoy patrols, which meant that one pilot would do sometimes three patrols a day, one at dawn, one in the morning and one at dusk. During the English summer dusk did not come until very late, usually between 11 and 12 p.m., so that pilots would often sleep by their aircraft, or spsnd the time in playing cards, or at other diverting pastirnes. One of the biggest shows in those days was .the Dieppe raid. The day before the raid the operational camps were completely cut off from the outside world, so much so that a boy who brought papers on to one camp was compelied ro spend the riight there. Before the squadrons took off they were briefed by the station . intelligence officer, who gave them a rough outline of the whole show. A more detailed briefing was given later by a wing commander (flying) wlio told the pilots of the tactics that would be employed. He also flew as the leader of fighter wing. Flying several times a day, pilots often found the work tiring and unpleasant. -Sometimes they flew at high altitudes, necessitating constant use of oxygen; sometimes patrols were made at 2000 feet, where cockpits became hot and uncomfortable. However, there was no branch of any service that lived under better conditions than the pilots of Fighter Command. Everything possible was done to make their sometimes all-to-short life on the ground as happy as possible. The best part of any operation was after interrogation was over, and pilots began "shooting a line" to each other. Everywhere there were pilots waving their hands about, describing their exploits. Referring to the Normandy landings, in which he flew as part of the air cover, Mr. Griffith said that there was very little enemy ' opposition, and our pilots were lucky if they saw anything at all, The scene of the landings was not very spectacular from the air. All the pilots 'could see were red flashes of shore batteries and tracer streaks from the ships. Most of the ground attack on this occasion was done by rocket-firing Typhoons, whereas no fighters flew below 2000 feet. The role of fighters was to provide air cover for the ships — to keep Hun fighters away; but- there were few'seen, and then only at night.: The main wbrk of squadrons , befdre - D.-day - « Were fighter sweeps known :as "rddeos." In these fighters had complete freedom of action; they could go anywhere and do anything — almost. The most unpopular jobs were anti-shipping strikes. One German ship going up the Channel wouid be escorted by at least four flakships, armed with nothing but anti-aircraft guns. The losses of Hurri-bombers and Blenheims which did the actual bombing were, on an average, 50 per cent. Ground -strafing was a job which was almost as dangerous — the Hun flak was deadly. Referring to the terrific losses suffered by the American bomber forces, he said than in the raid on Schweinfurt in 1943 their losses were 160 aircraft, although at the time the pu'blished figure was only 69. He had flown the FW 190 and the ME 109 and found that they were good aircraft fpr the purpose the Germans put them to, especially the 190, which could run rings round ^ny of our fighters in 1943 \ for speed and climb, although the. German aircraft lacked the manoeuvrability of the Spitfire. At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Griffith was accorded a vote of thanks, which was proposed by Mr. J. W. Lynch.