ADVENTURES OF N.Z. PILOT

Southland Times, Issue 24235, 19 September 1940, Page 7

ADVENTURES OF N.Z. PILOT

SHOT DOWN FOUR OR FIVE TIMES

HEAD-ON COLLISION IN AIR

BALED OUT THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY (British Official Wireless) (Received September' 18, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, September 17. A New Zealand flight commander who is credited with shooting down 12 and one-thirtieth German machines—the fraction being due to the share he has taken in three actions with other pilots in bringing down single enemy aeroplanes—has had an adventurous time in reaching this score. He has been shot down four or five times and has baled out three times in one day. In July he made a head-on attack on a Messerschmitt 109. Neither he nor the enemy would give way and they collided. The Messerschmitt’s airscrew struck the upper part of the British pilot’s cockpit and his hood would not open, so he had to smash his way out as flames entered the cockpit. He was awarded the D.F.C. for his share in escorting a Miles Master training aircraft across the Channel to Calais to rescue a squadron leader. He and

another pilot, in Spitfires, were attacked by 12 Messerschmitts. Both pilots destroyed one each and shared in the destruction of a third, probably a fourth. The Miles Master was undamaged. He had a very narrow escape recently when he had just taken off with another pilot. As they left the ground a bomb came crashing near them. The port window of his aircraft was tom off and he and the machine were hurled into the next field, landing upside down and skidding along for 100 yards before coming to rest. He was rescued by the other pilot.