FIGHTER PLANES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1942, Page 3

FIGHTER PLANES

NEW ZEALAND SQUADRON’S . FINE RECORD STORY OF FURTHER NOTABLE SUCCESSES. SORROW OVER LOSS OF CAPTAIN BEAMISH. (Special P.A. Correspondent). LONDON, April ?. The New Zealand fighter squadron has shot down a further five Nazi planes and also probably another one, and damaged one. They are the newest Focke Wulf 190 s, of which the Aucklanders J. D. Rae and Flight Lieutenant R. Grant, D.F.M., got two each, and Flight Lieutenant W. V. C. Compton, D.F.C., one. Pilot Officer John Palmer, Hawke’s Bay, recorded a probable and damaged one, and Sergeant J. Liken, also of Hawke's Bay, damaged one. The squadron’s jubilation evaporated, however, when it was learned that Group Captain F. V. Beamish, D.S.O. (bar), D.F.C., A.F.C., is missing from this sweep. He was leading the New Zealanders, who were flying at 19,000 feet to France when they saw the Focke Wulfs chasing Spitfires which were leaving France after a sweep. Group Captain Beamish swept down against the Germans, and a melee of dogfights followed. A Focke Wulf attacked Beamish, and Flight Lieutenant Grant drove one off his tail and shot down another, but Beamish’s plane had been hit. He was last seen five miles from the French coast. Meanwhile the R.A.F. had shot down two enemy planes and chased a third 30 miles over France, where it was followed faithfully by Pilot Officer M. Hulme, Auckland. Flight Lieutenant Compton dived vertically over another Focke Wulf, after which it crashed at 400 miles an hour. The loss of Group Captain Beamish saddened the New Zealanders, who had the most intense admiration for him. He was rated as the most inspired leader ever to head a Spitfire Wing. I le “The New Zealand squadron is now recognised as among the best five squadrons in the Fighter Command,” a R.A.F. officer has stated. He added that Squadron Leader E. P. Wells, D.F.C. and bar, who is the squadrons C. 0., is regarded as one of the best fighter pilots New Zealand has produced.