FURTHER LAURELS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 3 September 1942, Page 5

FURTHER LAURELS

N.Z. FLEET AIR ARM PILOTS CONVOY TO MALTA ACCOMPANIED ENEMY PLANE ATTACKS BEATEN OFF London, Sept. 2. Three New Zealand pilots won | further laurels for New Zealand in j the Fleet Air Ann when they shot i down two Italian planes and one' German while their aircraft-carrier | was accompanying a recent Malta-J bound convoy in the Mediterranean.! Lieutenant F. A. J. Pennington ol i Wellington with an English com- j manding officer attacked single-! handed 21 Cants 1007, which are j Italian three-engined bombers. Pen- j nington shot down one in flames and probably another while the English- | man accounted for two more. Sub-Lieutenant Hugh Morrison, ol Masterton attacked single-handed twelve Junkers 87’s. When he war pounced on by a Messerschmitt 109 Morrison turned and shot ii down. Sub-Lieutenant D. S. Hill of Auckland was patrolling over the convoy when an Italian Macchi lighter dived twice towards Hill from the sun. Hill shot him down when he made the second dive. Other New Zealanders aboard the carrier were Lieut.’-Commander A. P. Napper of Christchurch, who was recently mentioned in dispatches, and Sub-Lieutenants G. Reece and A. S. Long, both of Auckland, and R. Richardson of Wellington. FORMATION MET Pennington and his commanding officer were patrolling over the convoy off Tunisia when they met a formation of Cants flying in three flights of seven each. The two British Fulmars immediately made a head-on attack against the Italian bombers, the aircraft passing each other at something over 500 miles an hour. The Fulmars wheeled and made a beam attack and then followed up the Italians from the rear. The Italians immediately jettisoned parachute mines. Pennington selected a Cant and kept firing until he saw the port and starboard motors in flames, following which three Italians baled out and the aircraft crashed in the sea flaming. Pennington attacked another Cant and fired until his ammunition gave out. He saw pieces of the aircraft splatter into the air and the engine began smoking and for this reason the machine is unlikely to have reached its base. REAR-GUNNER WOUNDED “The Italians were firing on us’ and I did not see anything much,” said Pennington,” but the rear-gun-ner reported that he was wounded. While we were flying towards the carrier two Italian CR 42’s attacked. I dived straight for the ‘drink’ but they did not follow, for which we were glad in view of the exhausted ammunition. However, they snot up my hydraulics and for this reason 1 had to land on the deck without flaps.” During another flight Pennington with two other Fulmars attacked and shot down an Italian Savoia Machati 79 which is a three-engined bomber, therefore he was credited with one-third. Morrison, patrolling with a flight became separated, when he saw twelve Junkers 87’s which are divebombers, returning after attacking the convoy. Morrison although alone, unhesitatingly followed them up with the intention of attacking from behind when his observer commented over the inter-communica-tion system “Hush, there is a Messerschmitt after us.” Morrison wheeled sharply and met the German in a head-on attack and gave him a burst after which his observer saw the Messerschmitt go straight down and crash in the sea. A destroyer also confirmed its crashing. Morrison’s troubles a ere not over for other fighters attacked him. He dived to sea level when making tor the carrier and went so low that another Fulmar afterwards reported that Morrison’s tail-wheel brushed the waves but he escaped safely. H.M.S. EAGLE TORPEDOED On one of his first patrols over the convoy Hill saw the Eagle torpedoed. “Great spouts of water shot up into the air. The Eagle immediately listed and then went down very quickly.”

Sub-Lieutenant H. E. Duthie, of Auckland, was the only New Zealander aboard the Eagle. He is now on leave in London.

On another occasion Hill took off from the carrier during a divebombing raid by Stukas. “Flak was going up and bombs coming down and water was shooting everywhere. It was certainly a lively take off.” By the time he was . airborne the Stukas had made off but the Macchis which were acting as a fighter escort were still above. They were attempting to get “up sun” of Hill in order to dive on him from the sun’s path. Before long one Macchi began to dive, whereupon Hill turned steeply and met it head-on. Both aircraft were spitting death but both missed, after which the Macchi made a second dive with cannons blazing. Hill turned and met it again and raked its belly with bullets as it pulled out of the dive, with the result that it passed 50 feet over his head and then turned lazily and dived towards the sea where it crashed, which was confirmed.— P.A Special Correspondent.