CRASH LANDINGS THREE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 24868, 7 October 1942, Page 5

CRASH LANDINGS THREE TIMES

DOMINIONNAVIGATOR (Official War Correspondent) WESTERN DESERT AERODROME, October 5. Three times planes in which Pilot Officer I. W. Evison, of Hastings, has been navigator have been forced to crash-land after operations, but he is still on the job and hopes soon to take a pilot’s course. He is now with the Air Rescue Flight. Pilot Officer Evison left New Zealand for England as a fully trained navigator in January J. 940. With the 75th (New Zealand) Bomber Squadron he carried out 32 operational flights, all except one over Germany. The other one was to Italy. Returning from one operation the plane encountered a severe snowstorm and landed some distance from the aerodrome. In a series of bounces it reached the aerodrome much the worse for wear, but with the crew not seriously hurt. Caught in a fierce barrage over Berlin a plane in which Pilot Officer Evison was navigator twisted and turned for half an hour after making its escape with its undercarriage shot away. Holed in three places, one hole in the fuselage being three feet six inches wide and without wireless, the machine made off at a greatly reduced speed, but despite these handicaps it landed safely in England. Pilot Officer Evison flew out from England towards the end of April last year. After being in Iraq for a time he came to the desert. When bombing over Benghazi the plane was damaged by ack-ack fire and in landing at a desert aerodrome crashed into another machine fully loaded with bombs and petrol. Pilot Officer Evison was rescued from the blazing plane while at intervals bombs were bursting, but he suffered so severely from burns and cuts that he was off duty for seven months.