Seventh Plane Falls Victim To N.Z. Pilot

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1942, Page 4

Seventh Plane Falls Victim To N.Z. Pilot

N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent.

Uncanny eyesight aids Hamilton ace.

Rec. 6.30 p.m. Desert Landing Ground, Aug. 2o. By shooting down in flames a Junkers 88 night raider behind the Ei Alamein line last night a New Zealand pilot, Warrant-Officer E. L. Joyce, D.F.M.. Hamilton, brought his own score of enemy aircraft destroyed to seven. The 25th New Zealander in Cobber Kain's old squadron, Warrant-Officer Joyce is one of three New Zealanders at present in the squadron. He is almost the exact opposite to Kain in stature and nature. Known among desert pilots and in his home town as the nipper, he is thin and stands scarcely higher than the cannons on his plane. As with most New Zealand pilots, he says little about his suocesses in almost 300 hours flying above Egypt and Libya. A quality which amazes fellow pilots, and one which has made him one of the Middle East's most successful night fighter pilots, is his uncanny eyesight. Last night he saw a Junkers— a reconnaissance plane believed to be photographing back areas — from a distance of two miles. Warrant-Officer Joyce dived on the Germans and fired a burst into them. There was a terrific fiash, and the,, Junkers exploded in the air. On an earlier day operation over. the El Alamein line Warrant-Officer Joyce's squadron intercepted a formation of Stukas. The Hurricanes had just begun the attack when 12 Messerschmitts 109 appeared. While others of the squadron attacked the Stukas, Warrant-Officer Joyce's flight stayed as cover. WarrantOfficer Joyce followed a. Messerschmitt and destroyed it with a two seconds' burst into the cockpit. He damaged ,a second one with shots into the wings. While he was attacking the first enemy fighter, a Messerschmitt, which was diving on him, was shot down in flames by Warrant-Officer Joyce's No. 2 pilot. In the same engagement another New Zealander in the squadron, Sergeant A. S. Wilson, Mid-Canterbury, shot a Stuka down in flames. The squadron's total for the fight was six destroyed, six probables and eight damaged. Warrant-Officer Joyce, whose brother, Private Arthur Joyce, is serving with the Auckland Battalion of the New Zealand Division, joined the Royal Air Force three years after he left high school. He flew with fighter squadrons in England before coming to the Middle East about 16 months ago. Besides .last night's raider his score includes two Junkers 88, two Messerschmitts 109, two C.R. 45 s all within the last four months. The C.R. 42 s he chased over the front line and shot them down when they were at zero feet. Another New Zealander in the squadron is Warrant-Officer R. L. Baker, Wellington, who joined the squadron at the end of last year. He has a score of two certainties. Cobber Kain's respirator and sc | ves made from his parachute are treasured possessions of the squadron. Until recently there were many men in the ground staff who knew him during his adventures' in France. One sergeant still with the squadron played as full-back in a football team in which Kain was wing three- quarter.