SUCCESS OF N.Z. PILOTS

Southland Times, Issue 24839, 3 September 1942, Page 5

SUCCESS OF N.Z. PILOTS

MALTA CONVOY ACTION (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, September 1. Three New Zealand pilots won further laurels for'New Zealand in the Fleet Air Arm when they shot down two Italian and one German aircraft while their aircraft-carrier was accompanying the recent Malta-bound convoy in the Mediterranean. Lieutenant F. A. J. Pennington, of Wellington, with his English commanding officer attacked single-handed 21 Cant 107’s, which are Italian threeengined bombers. Lieutenant Pennington shot down one in flames and probably another, while the Englishman accounted for two more. Sub-Lieutenant Hugh Morrison, of Masterton, attacked single-handed 12 Junkers 87’s. When he was pounced on by a Messerschmitt 109 Sub-Lieu-tenant Morrison turned and shot down the Messerschmitt Sub-Lieutenant D. S. Hill, of Auckland, was patrolling over the convoy when an Italian Macchi fighter dived twice towards him from the sun. SubLieutenant Hill shot him down when he made the second dive. Other New Zealanders aboard the carrier were Lieutenant-Commander A. P. Napper, of Christchurch, who was recently mentioned in dispatches, and Sub-Lieutenants G. Reece and Long, both of Auckland, and R. Richardson, of Wellington. Lieutenant Pennington and nis commanding officer were patrolling over the convoy off Tunisia when they met a formation of Cants flying in three

flights of seven each. The two British Fulmars immediately made a head-on attack against the Italian bombers, the aircraft passing each other at something over 500 miles an hour. The Fulmars wheeled and made a beam attack. Italians immediately jettisoned their parachute mines. ITALIAN SHOT DOWN Lieutenant Pennington selected a Cant and kept firing until he saw the port and starboard motors in flames, following which three Italians baled out and the aircraft crashed in the sea flaming. Lieutenant Pennington attacked another Cant and fired until his ammunition gave out. He saw . pieces of the aircraft spatter into the air and the engine began smoking. For this reason it is unlikely to have reached its base. “Italians were firing on us,” he said. “You did not see anything much, but the rear gunner reported that he was wounded. While we were flying towards the carrier two Italian C.R. 42’s attacked. I dived straight down, but they did not follow, for which we were glad in view of our exhausted ammunition. However, they shot up my hydraulics and for this reason I had to land on the deck without flaps.” During another flight Lieutenant Pennington with two other Fulmars attacked and shot down an Italian Savoia Machati 79, which is a three-engined bomber.' Therefore he was credited with one-third. Sub-Lieutenant Morrison was patrolling with his flight, but he became separated. When the dive-bombers were returning after attacking the convoy Sub-Lieutenant Morrison, although alone, unhesitatingly followed them up with the intention of attacking from behind when his observer commented over ' the inter-communication system: “Their Messerschmitt is after us.” SubLieutenant Morrison wheeled sharply, met the German in a head-on attack and gave him a burst, after which his observer saw the Messerschmitt go straight down and crash in the sea. A destroyer also confirmed the crash. Sub-Lieutenant Morrison’s troubles were not over, for other fighters attacked him. He dived to sea level when making for the carrier. One went so low that another Fulmar afterwards reported that Sub-Lieutenant Morrison’s tail-wheel brushed the waves, but he escaped safely. TORPEDOING OF EAGLE On one of his first patrols over the convoy Sub-Lieutenant Hill saw the aircraft-carrier Eagle torpedoed. “Great spouts of water shot up into the air,” he said. “The Eagle immediately listed and then went down very quickly.” Sub-Lieutenant H. E. Duthie, of Auckland, was the only New Zealander aboard the Eagle. He is now on leave in London. On another occasion Sub-Lieutenant Hill took off from his carrier during a dive-bombing raid by Stukas. “Flak was going up and bombs were coming down and water was shooting everywhere,” he said. “It was certainly a lively take off.” By the time he was air-borne the Stukas had made off, but the Macchis which were acting as a fighter escort were still above. They were attempting to get “up-sun” of Sub-Lieutenant Hill in order to dive on him from the sun’s path. Before long one Macchi began to dive, whereupon Sub-Lieutenant Hill turned steeply and met it head-on, both aircraft spitting death, but both missed, after which the Macchi made a second dive, its cannon blazing. Sub-Lieutenant Hill turned, met it again and raked its belly with bullets as it pulled out of its dive with the result that it passed 50 feet over his head, smoke pouring out. Then it turned lazily and dived towards the sea, where it crashed.