EPIC FLIGHTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1939, Page 6

EPIC FLIGHTS

DEEDS OF BRITISH AIRMEN . IN WAR THEATRE HIS MAJESTY GETS DETAILS AT FIRST HAND. ‘•PROUD TO HAVE MET SUCH MEN.” (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, November 2. Au hour before his Majesty arrived at one station airmen who engaged in a reconnaissance flight over South German on October 27 arrived. They gave him vivid details of an epie flight, in which they encountered freezing weather. The men bore scars burns and blisters. They told their stories simply and earnestly, after which the Kipg commented: “I am proud to have met such men.” The airmen described how the engine of one machine failed owing to ice and snow conditions. The pilot ordered the crew to abandon ship and told the crew to jump. He saw three go, but there was no reply from the gunner. He assumed that the latter had already escaped. The pilot jumped and the machine crashed on a hillside. The gunner was still trapped in his cockpit with a loose wire entangled on his neck, but fought his way from the blazing machine. The men made their way separately through the night.and were reunited in a little village. During the same raid, the engine of another machine caught fire. The two gunners became senseless with cold. The pilot made a forced landing. The machine struck treetops and caught fire. Assisted by other members of the crew, the pilot dragged the gunners out, memorised and then burnt his secret papers and eventually reached the base.