TOBRUK RAIDED BY NEW ZEALANDER

Southland Times, Issue 24233, 17 September 1940, Page 7

TOBRUK RAIDED BY NEW ZEALANDER

WAVE FROM ENEMY AIRMAN (Special to The Times) NEW PLYMOUTH, September 16. Experiences in one raid on the important seaport and naval base at Tobruk, on the Mediterranean coast, are outlined in a letter received by friends from Pilot Officer R. F. Campbell, formerly of Opunake, now serving with the Royal Air Force in Egypt. “We received orders to load up with 250-pounders and to proceed to the harbour of Tobruk, an important port in Libya,” he says in the letter. We left in time to be over our target at dusk, and we approached from 50 miles out over the Mediterranean, at 20,000 ft. The sky in front of me was suddenly filled with bursting shells from antiaircraft guns. We tore through the smoke at about 220 miles an hour, sighted, and let go, and hurriedly set course for dear old Egypt. “I was just beginning to think how fortunate I was when out of the sun flashed three Italian fighter aircraft. My rear gunner let loose a burst as they dived at us, guns cracking, but they must be terrible shots, because not one bullet struck my aircraft.

“Then my rear gunner spoke to me over the telephone, saying, ‘There is a 42 under your port wing, but I cannot lower my gun far enough to get him.’ I had a quick look over. There he was, not 30ft. below me. I swung down the wing, and heard a burst fired. It was obvious to me that he could stay there all day, and I could not very easily shift him, and, on the other hand, he could not get me, because he did not have sufficient speed with which to manoeuvre his sights. He saw I had greater speed, so dived away vertically, with a wave of his hand for a goodbye. I fly bombers, which are not meant for fighting, so could not engage him.”