DOMINIONS WERE REPRESENTED

Southland Times, Issue 24234, 18 September 1940, Page 5

DOMINIONS WERE REPRESENTED

Adventurous Flight Over Berlin NEW ZEALAND OFFICER’S EXPERIENCE (British Official Wireless) (Received September 17, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, September 16. The Dominions were strongly represented in Sunday night’s adventurous flight by the Royal Air Force over Germany. One of the angriest men in the Royal Air Force is a New Zealand wing commander, 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 al-

ternative objective,” he said, “and flew up out of the soup on one engine. After about 10 minutes the other engine picked up again and we headed for home. I have never had such a pasting over 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 the armour plating 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 piece of metal came through the glass at one side, whizzed past his nose and went out the other side. 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,” he said. “Suddenly I realized that from the rush of the wind we were in a dive and spinning slightly. I scrambled back to the cockpit. I found the second pilot trying his hardest to get the machine back on a level keel. I got alongside him and helped to pull and at 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 for his target when one of his engines stopped. They continued to search for 10 minutes, found the Tempelhof aerodrome, dropped their bombs on it and turned for home.

REMOVAL OF DANGER TO ST. PAUL’S MR GANDHI EXPRESSES RELIEF (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, September 16. The magnificent courage of the few men who safely removed the highexplosive bomb which had menaced St. Paul’s Cathedral since last Wednesday is warmly praised on all sides and there is world-wide relief that Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece escaped undamaged. .In approving the Indian Congress resolution expressing admiration for the bravery and endurance of the British people Mr Gandhi said: “Any damage to St. Paul’s would be as keenly felt by me as would damage to Benares.”