NAVY THAT FLIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20132, 29 December 1939, Page 8

NAVY THAT FLIES

SEA GUARDIANS AID TO SHIPPING CONTINUOUS PATROLS MIDDY TELLS STORY TOUCH-LAST IN CLOUDS (KW. Tel. Oopyrifrlit—United Press Assn.) (British Oflieial Wireless.) Reed. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Dec. 28. In a broadcast dealing with “the navy that flies,’’ a “naval eye-witness,” recalling how the fleet Air Arm was once a branch of the Royal Air Force to which the Royal Navy contributed three-quarters of the pilots and all the observers, said that although administered when ashore by the Royal Air Force and when afloat by the navy, the arrangement has worked well because it was founded on. unbounded goodwill. In spite ot this the scheme had inherent disadvantages which no amount of goodwill coulch overcome and in consequence the Fleet Air Arm became a part of the Royal Navy, living for the most part in aircraft carriers and in large warships. Assistance to Convoy “There is a great deal of close cooperation on certain parts of the coast between the Royal Air Force and the navy, as witness the defence of a convoy some weeks ago when the navy in charge called on the Royal Air Force, who came out to shoot down seven of 12 attacking Nazis and to drive off the remainder,” continued the naval eye-witness. “Not always does the Fleet Air arm work from the sea for the continuous patrol which crosses the North Sea from dawn to dusk is shore based and is carried out in conjunction with the Royal Air Force.” In the course of the broadcast, the speaker told of a conversation he hao had with a midshipman of 20 years who was one of the pilots working on this patrol. This young man told him. he said, that the hunt was grand. It was the kill that was not so funny. Grim Game Played

He himself had intercepted a German bombing machine one afternoon and a grim game of touch-last began in a series of gigantic cloud valleys. The enemy dived, banked and dodgeci from one cloud cover to another and the relentless pursuit went on, saia the midshipman. "I ripped ahead to a cloud I thought he would make for and I waited for h'lm on the other side. Gosh. That was fun. I got him as he came through at yards range. “But then when you saw the poor devils spinning down, nose first through the clouds with smoke pouring from the engine, it was not so good. I hated that part of the business.”

The broadcast added: “That’s how they feel about it.”