GRIM CONFLICT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1940, Page 5

GRIM CONFLICT

FLYING=OFFICER KAIN’S LATEST EXPLOIT MESSERSCHMITT DESTROYED. LANDING IN BADLY DAMAGED PLANE. By Telegraph-—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON. March 3. A 21-year-okl New Zealand pilot of ibe Royal Air Force, believed io be Flying Officer Edgar -I. Kain. Wellington, who brought down two Dorniers and also trailed a lleinkel alter his gnus froze, narrowly escaped death in another adventure yesterday after shooting down ;i Alesserseliinil I. The fight was part of intense aerial activity on the Western Front during the whole weekend. A graphic story of his battle with German fighters is told by the New Zealand pilot. His plane and another Hurricane piloted by an N.C.O. experienced their first combat together. On patrol over the German frontier the airmen sighted a returning bomber reconnaissance formation and eagerly gave chase, with the Now Zealander leading. "1 called instructions into the radiotelephone . for the other pilot to draw up closer,” he said, 'but when I turned to see if lie was complying I found not the sergeant but a Messerschmitt on my tail. He blazed away with cannon shell and shock number two came when I saw one of my wing tips disappear. In a matter of seconds I was sandwiched between two Messerschmitts, the oilier having come at me alter bringing down the sergeant pilot.

"Well, there was a lot of twisting and turning, and the German seemed to be firing all over the place. Then I got one of them and the last I saw of him ho was going down in flames. The other one got two more terrific bursts of cannon shells on me, the second one tearing a huge hole in my engine. A rush of oil spurted into my eyes, blinding me, and a great cloud of black smoke from the damaged engine choked me. “I said to myself, ‘Enough of this,' and decided to ‘bail out.’ But when I felt for my parachute shoulder straps I found they had slipped off. I put on my oxygen mask and turned the gas full on, and just set myself gliding down, waiting for what I felt sure was the end. For some reason the Messerschmitt above sheered off home without firing a further shot. I suppose he thought I was finished. “I managed to land on the edge of a French aerodrome, climbed out simply covered in oil, and fell flat on my face. The fumes, the oxygen and the excitement were all a bit 100 much for me.

“The French rallied round with brandy and a fire engine and an ambulance, and I awoke in hospital after what seemed to be several hours. In the next bed was a French pilot who had been also shot down that day, so we had a party.” *

FLIGHT OVER BERLIN

CONTRADICTION OF GERMAN DENIALS. The Nazi radio and Press is still trying to persuade the people that there have been no British flights over Berlin, and a broadcast in Dutch from the Nazi radio stations claimed that the Italian Press agreed with this version, a Daventry message states. Unfortunately, almost at the same time, the Italian radio announced in English and Italian that British planes had been over Berlin and had dropped pamphlets. In Soviet Russia the news that British planes had flown over Berlin was also broadcast to the people. ENEMY LOSSES FIVE PLANES IN TWO DAYS. LONDON, March 3. The Allied air forces on the Western Front brought down live German planes yesterday and today. Yesterday the Royal Air Force brought down a Dornier and a Messerschmitt, and the French Air Force two others, and today .R.A.F. fighters shot down another Nazi plane. The Allies did not lose a single machine. though one or two were damaged. “AMAZING YOUNG MAN” MORE ABOUT KAIN'S EXPLOIT. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) LONDON, March 4. Perhaps the most thrilling incident in Flying-Officers Kain’s flight over the Western Front occurred when he landed from a crippled machine after an encounter w'itli two Messerschmitts. He said: “Then I got up, hopped into a British machine and fltlew back to my squadron.” Mr Noel Monks, a “Daily Mail” correspondent, who found Kain as fit as a fiddle, says: “This amazing young man, who now has three Nazi machines to his credit, wanted to go up again on Sunday, but the officer commanding would not allow him to do so. Kain’s mascot, is a little jade image suspended from his keck. 11 is an old tiki (Maori God."