FAMOUS N.Z. AIRMAN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 202, 24 May 1944, Page 7

FAMOUS N.Z. AIRMAN

A. E. Clouston Promoted Group Captain (Bv Telegraph.—A’rcss Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Received Promoted group captain at the age of 36, the famous airman A. E. C ouston, D. 5.0., D.F.C., A.F.C, and Bai, Motutka, now commands a station with a truly Anzac atmosphere, both New Zealand and Australian Beaufighter squadrons being based on it. Clouston was promoted and given bis present appointment after commanding a Liberator squadron for a year His wartime record is as distinguished as his peacetime career. , Clouston, who entered the R.A.Jt.in 1930. served a short service in the Figher Command till Woo- when he became one of two civilian test Pilots for the Air Ministry at I arnborough. During the four years preceding the w ar. he tested many new typos oG aircraft, including the Spitfire and the Wellesley, and also experimented with barrage balloon cables, first flying into thin struie suspended from toy balloons and then using thicker and thicker string, then line wire and thicker wire with lai ger balloons, till the present standard balloon and cable were decided on. On the outbreak of war, he was recalled to the R.A.F. and given. the rank of squadron leader. He continued his work as a test pilot. It was white testing a Spitfire during the Battle oi Bntain that his attention was attracted b.v flakbursts. He Hew toward them and sighted

a Messerschmitt 110, which he a^ acke fl and damaged and chased toward the Channel, where it was last seen descending seaward. During the chase he also saw a Heinkel 111 which he attacked and definitely destroyed. L „ In October, 1940, he was posted to a Beaufighter night-fighter squadron and flew for 52 hours seeking German raiders during the London blitz. In Deeembii. 1940, he was transferred to the staff of Sir John Salmond at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He became engaged in the development of radio-loca-tion and the following year was P roa ™^ (l wing commander in command of a a( l l ' a * ron. During that period he helped to term nine new squadrons. lor his work i testing balloon cables he was awarded the A.F.C. apd for his part in the development of night-fighters he was awarded a Bar to the A.F.C. Joins Coastal Command.

In February. 1° 43 - ®t his own request, he was transferred to the Coastal Command, where he commanded a squadron ot Liberators engaged in anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic between England and Gibraltar, and in testing new devices, including the Leigh Light- °n one occasion he sighted a U-boat seven m Its away through his binoculars and immediately ordered an attack. The U boat greeted the Liberator with an accurate burst of fire from its antiaircraft giiii, holing the Liberator in 30 places, but accurate depth charges sent the i - boat beneath the surface, from which oil and air bubbles showed for -0 minutesThe Admiralty subsequently assessed the U-boat as destroyed. ' On another occasion, lour Junkers Sc s attacked his Liberator and a running fi,ht followed for 50 minutes, the Liberator finally eluding them with only s.x cannon shell holes in the rudders. Clo,ls l 0 "?',, nnid tribute to his gunners, one of whom ™s Sergeant A. -Fl\Souter Wanganui, for “saving my life that day. Untoi tunatelv. Souter was subsequently renorted missing on air operations. P In his long flying career, which began in Marlborough, where he learnt to fI.V n D.II. Moth, paying ±3 an houi. a <1 continued during his ’•ccm'd-ln'eakina fli Jit between Cape Town and Nev ‘jgg XX types XrcM. h of his Anzae squadrons, particularly, ot course, he New Zealanders. “You are going to heat lot <>f them.” he said.