N.Z. PILOTS IN DESERT

Southland Times, Issue 24836, 31 August 1942, Page 5

N.Z. PILOTS IN DESERT

COUNTY OF LONDON SQUADRON (Official War Correspondent) DESERT LANDING GROUND, Aug. 26. Three New Zealanders, two of them veterans of fighter sweeps over France, are now flying Spitfires over the Western Desert in the famous County of London Squadron. One of them, who commands a flight in the squadron, has already shot down two Junkers 88’s in desert operations, while all three have taken part in many raids over the El Alamein line. Flight-Lieutenant M. R. B. Ingram, of Dunedin, flew in about 40 fighter sweeps and bomber escorts over France and was also on convoy patrols off the English coast before he joined the County of London squadron when it was on its way to Malta. After about two months on the island fortress he flew to the Western Desert where his successes against two German reconnaissance planes brought his total score to five destroyed and two or three damaged probables. Both the Junkers 88’s, which he attacked at about 25,000 feet, were reported by the army as shot down behind the El Alamein line before he had returned to his landing ground. He has a total of about 850 flying hours, including 200 on operations. Flying with Flight-Lieutenant Ingram is Pilot Officer L. J. Frecklington, a Manawatu farmer, who is one of the original members of the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron in England. Pilot Officer Frecklington joined the Royal Air Force in May 1940 and he finished his training in time to be given the Manawatu Spitfire in the newly-form-ed squadron. In his first raids across the Channel he flew behind WingCommander E. P. Wells, D. 5.0., D.F.C., and bar. Between June and September last year Pilot Officer Frecklington in 32 sweeps and bomber escorts over France was flying in every operation the squadron made in six weeks. He was commissioned and posted to Aden before beginning operational flying again early this year and his experience with Spitfires gained him a place in the County of London Squadron—the old peace-time squadron which fought through the Battle of Britain. The third New Zealander is a wellknown Wellington racing cyclist, Ser-geant-Pilot A. H. Somerby, of Johnsonville. Sergeant Somerby left England last April to begin his operational flying with the squadron. During his five months’ training in Canada he was one of the first New Zealand pilots to visit New York and Ottawa. The lull at the front and the decrease in enemy air activity has given him little opportunity to open his score. The greatest sight he has seen in the Middle East, says Sergeant Somerby, was the arrival of the New Zealand troops in the desert during the time the squadron was moving back two months ago. Like most of the Royal Air Force fighter squadrons in the desert the County of London squadron includes men from all the Dominions as well as South Americans and one American from Texas who joined -up in Canada.