N.Z. Airman With Price On His Head

Chronicle (Levin), 13 September 1948, Page 5

N.Z. Airman With Price On His Head

♦ Reeeived Sunday, 7 p.m. PERTH, Sept. 12. A flier who f ea red tliat enemie.s who had pnt a priee 011 his liead inight get the eluuice to exact tlieir penalty now feels at ease. He is tlie Xew Zealauder Puni Whitehead, uged ■'11, whose adventures read more like cluipters from a work of lietion. Whitehead was permitted to touch foot 011 weJcome Austialian soil barely half an hour bel'ore tlie tauker Ghisliolm Trail which brought him to Fremantle, let't 011 tlm returu voyage to Abadan iu the Persian Gulf. Diffieulties arose because he had 110 landing or identity pajiers. He elaims that," if fon-ed to returu, his life would be forfeit. After flying the Tasman in 1935 in a Puss XLotli witli a eonipanion, Nieholls, he went to Spain in March, 1938, and served witli the Loyalist Air Force. He was shot down in c:ieiny territory but elaimed Polish citizensliip and was released. He then v, ent to Cnina and flew planes for the Ghinese Government against the Japanese. Whitehead reaehed England in 1959 and served in the Royal Xew Zealand Air Force until April, 1946. He elaims lio took part in tlie battle of Britain and was credited witli having destroyed 61 eneinv planes. He was awarded the

D.F.M. and bar and Polish Cross of Valour. Shot down over Gerinan-lield territovv he evaded c-apture. After discharge he joined tlie Ghinese Communist Air Fon-o and remained with it for a year. Ile was next engaged ferrying planes from Singapore to the 1 nited States and across to England. The next tuni 111 his fantastic adventures, Whitehead says, was . in Palestine with the Hagannah Air Force. He elaims to have shot down the first Egyptian Spitlire in December, 1947. The Egyptian plane landed on the beacli near Haifa. O11 the night of Julv lo, he recalled h e was tlviug a reconnaissance plane with Captain A. Mansliehl, they were attacked by four fraki planes. Thev destroyed two but were hit themselves. Whitehead said he crash landed and Mansfield sufl'ered burns to tlie leg. Whitehead was captured l),v Tiaki police but bribed his way out oi gaol and crossed the border into Iran. Asked when he intended to settle down in a noncombatant role, White head said: "Wlien J ean get a dei'ent job. [ was worth £250 nionthly to tlie Jewish Goveninient. " He wants to get teniporary work in I'ertli to pay for his passage to Xew Zealand. He gave his honie address as Weyinouth, Xew Zealand.