FLYING-OFFICER KAIN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 163, 10 June 1940, Page 6

FLYING-OFFICER KAIN

FAMOUS FLIER DEAD. . RESULT OF ACCIDENT. . WELLINGTON, June 10. New Zealand’s famous war pilot, Flying-Officer Edgar James (“Cobber ) ICain, D.F.C., is dead. Advice to this effect has been received by his father, Mr R. G. Kain, of Wadestown, ,;m a cable from the Air Ministry,. which states that death was the resist of an aircraft accident. The profound sympathy of the Air Council is conveyed to Mr and Mrs Kain and familyNews of Flying-Officer Kain’s death has been received with deep sorrow. Since' he first flashed into the news early in November as the result of a brilliant-single-handed action in which he brought down a Dornier reconnaissance ’plane, Flying-Officer Kain . has become a figure symbolic of the courage and daring with which the successors of the Anzacs of 1914-1918 have ;taken. up arms in defence of freedom and democracy. Recently his record., of having shot down 40 German ’planes ranked with best individual achievements of the R.A.F. Born in Hastings 22 years ago, Flying-Officer Kain w-as educated at Croydon School, Day’s Bay, Eastbourne, Wellington, and at Christ s College, Christchurch, where he was. a boarder at School House from 1933 till 1935. After leaving he was trained at Rongotai Aerodrome, Wellington, under Squadron-Leader G. L. S teaman. He completed liis training at Wigram Aerodrome, Christchurch, where.-v he took his A I’cense toward the end of 1936. He left for England shortly afterward with his parents. He qualified 'for the R.A.F. on arrival, and on December 21 of that year went into training camr> at Blackburn. After three months there he was posted to Uxbridge, where he qualified as a pilot-officer. ' INTO THE NEWS.

It was on November 10 that New Zealanders first heard how a young New Zealand pilot, whom Daventry described as “tall, dark-haired with, a beaky nose,” shot down - a Dormer .reconnaissance ’plane at a height of five miles above an R.A.F. aerodrome in France. He was subsequently -identified as Flying-Officer Kain. Describing the fight, the London Times said: “The young pilot toolc oft alone and climbed steeply in tile face of fire from a German gunner m the tail of the enemy machine. The New Zealander held his own fire till lie was at close range, and then loosed a single burst which put out of action the enemy’s port motor. The German banked, climbed again, and opened fire. The New Zealand pilot felt the bullets humming by his head. He then attacked again at a range of 250 yards wl fh a long burst from his guns. He closed in to 50 yards and gave the Germans full bursts. “After nearly colliding with him, the . Dornier plunged into a steep, straight dive, and the New Zealander followed at an incredible speed. A wing of the German ’plane struck a house and the machine crashed in the. main street of a village with the engine full on. It tore a trench 10ft deep and burst into flames. The bodies of the occupants were thrown 100 yards away.” ’-i. Fragments of the Dornier machine were subsequently distributed as souvenirs. Soon after this.incident French troops conferred on Flying-Officer Kain Lindbergh’s nickname, “the, flying fool,” because his control of his machine was so perfect that he could “sweep off his comrades’ caps.” Early in March Flying-Officer Kain shot down a Messerschmitt, bringing his total to three. A correspondent of the Daily Mail wrote of him: ‘‘This amazing young man, who now .has , three Nazi machines to hj6 credit, wanted to go up again on Sunday, but his commanding officer would not allow him. His mascot is a little jade image suspended from his neck, an old tiki, or Maori god.”

PARACHUTE LANDING. Later in the same month he brought down two more Nazi ’planes and became the ace of toe R.A.F. It was in this engagement that he had to land by parachute after his ’plane had been shot down in flames. He was later found to have several shrapnel holes in his leg. A correspondent of the Australian Associated Press with the R.A.F. wrote: “The ground staff ‘wrote off’ ‘Cobber’ when his blazing 'plane disappeared into a cloud bank, but he turned up in the mess of* a tiny French village that night, this face brick-red from burning oil, his eyebrows singed, bandages on a leg and a hand, and his hair, still streaked with oil.” On March 29 it was announced'that His Majesty the King had awarded Flying-Officer Kain the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in operations against the enemy. In a letter to his parents, written on February 11 he said that there was'very little doing at the time of writing. He mentioned that a few days previously 8.8. C. representatives visited his post and took a recorded description of one of his flights on patrol. He afterward gave an account of two “scraps,” which was also to be broadcast. ’ “{.ife tends to get very boring out here with all this inactivity,” wrote the airman, “but I expect when the weather improves things will begin to buck up.” In April his engagement to-j Miss Joyce Phillips, an actress appearing in repertory at Peterborough, was announced. It was stated that the wedding would take place, possibly in June. Flying-Officer Kain’s mother and sister are at present on their, way; to England. - SPLENDID SUCCESS. . With the outbreak of major hostilities on the Western Front last month, Flying-Officer Kain again figured in the news. On May .23 his “bag” was reported to be 25. On May 27 it was reported that three R.A.F pilots had shot down nearly 100 German ’planes between them in battles on the Western Front, i “Cobber” Kain’s bag wa6 believed to e..jeed 40. ' How he came to be called “(jobber” was a mystery to his relatives in Wellington, among whom he was known as “Eddie.” They assume that it must have been bestowed on him by his Australian friends in the Royal' Air Force, perhaps because of the' alliteration and because he was a good companion to have along the highways of the sky. The good companion has passed, his duty done. New Zealanders will revere his memory.