OVER GERMANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 8

OVER GERMANY

ADVENTUROUS FLIGHT DOMINION PILOTS ENGAGED EXCITING INCIDENTS (British Official Wireless) (United Press Association) "(By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) RUGBY, Sept. 16. (Received Sept. 17, at 7.30 p.m.). The dominions were strongly represented in Sunday night's adventurous flight by the R.A.F. over Germany. One of the angriest men'in, the R.A.F. is a New Zealand wingcommander who was within five minutes' flying distance of his main; target in Berlin when one of his engines froze. " I had to let go my bombs on an alternative objective, he said, "and flew ut> out of the soup on one engine. After about ten minutes,the other engine picked up again and we headed for home. I never had such a pasting oyer Bremen. On the way back the tailplane was riddled.". A piece of shrapnel came into the cockpit, tore fur from the pilot's collar, hit armour olating behind the seat, tore some fur from the observer's flying suit and then landed on the navigator's table. \ The second, pilot, also a New Zealander, was in the front of the machine, and a Diece of metal came through the glass at one side, whizzed past his nose, and went out at the other side. Controls Frozen A pilot from Ottawa also told of a 7000-foot dive near the mouth of the Elbe with the controls frozen. "I was in the front turret at the time, testing the gun and looking out to see" what kind of landfall we were making. Suddenly I realised from the rush of wind that we were in a dive and spinning slightly. I scrambled back to the cockpit and I found the second pilot trying his hardest to get the machine back on to a "level keel. I got alongside him and helped to Dull, and about 7000 feet the aircraft came out. but not before the fabric had been stripped off the ailerons and part of the main plane. I dropped my bombs into the sea and came back 300 miles or so to my base." Another New Zealander figured in a third incident. While over Berlin he was searching foj his target when one of his engines stopped. They continued to search for 10 minutes and found Templehoff aero-j drome. They dropped their bombsj on it and turned for home.