Pilot Drops 27,000 Feet After Baling Out Over Malta

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1942, Page 4

Pilot Drops 27,000 Feet After Baling Out Over Malta

How he baled out of his Spitfire when he was recently engaged in an air battle over Malta is described in a letter from Pilot-Officer J. D. ftae, Auckland. "One well-placed cannon' shell," he says, "struck the base of the control column, placing me in a similar position to a car without a steering wheel. Some 6hells smashed into the instrument panel, obliterating most of the instruments, others penetrated the petrol tanks, causing petrol to pour into the cockpit, and the armour-plating behind my back must have been struck because there was an odd nick in the top of my helmet and a slight furrow on the top of the head. "The machine went ^straight into a spiral dive, picking up a colossal speed. The height then would be approximately 27,000ft. I decided to depart without further ado, Owing to the speed, estimated at nearly 500 miles an hour, plus Ihe spiralling effect, the stress was terrific and I failed in my attempts to lift the hand high enough to undo and remove my helmet, to which was attached oxygen and radio telephone equipment. Fortunately I was able to lift my hand high enough to extract the pin which releases the Sutton harness, a 6trap which holds one in. Tangled Up With Remnants. "My first attempt at getting out resulted in the opposite and I finished under the instrument panel and tangled up with the remnants of the control stick. After several attempts to extricate myself from the mess I suddenly found rnyself free and hurtling through the air. "All that had ,to be done was to pull the ripcord. When standing on the ground you know exactly where it is and it is just a matter of pulling the handle. But when there is a deaiening roar in your ears and a mix-up of clouds, sky and earth whirling past like a crazy panorama my frantic grabs for the ripcord were having no results. It was at the useless stage of panic that f remembered the good hook form logic, namely, 'when trying to find the ripcord, look for it,' and that is precisely what I did, after tearing off the flapping oxygen mask so that I could see. and there it was already half-extracted. Quiet and Feaceful. "I pulled it. and suddenly everything was quiet and peaceful and I seemed to be perfectly motionless, suspended far above the earth. The only sounds to be heard were the droning of Merlin and Daimler Benz engines above intermingled with occasional bursts of cannon fiie. Pure luck was still with me as the wind was in the right direction and bbtw toward the island,_ which looked so small a thing to hit from that height. "I had no wish to hang conspicuous and completely helpless in a parachute while there were still Messerschmitts about. I attempted to collapse the parachute, at the same time side-slipping toward the isle, but the physical effort required. coupled with the lack of oxygen and the previous effort of getting out of the machine, left me complelely exhausted. It seemed an interminable age before I neared the ground and yet in the last few seconds the rocky and uneven surface just rushed up to meet me. I rolled over a few times without any damage to my person apart from the wounds sustained from a cannon shell which exploded by my leg."