FLEW WITH BADER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 April 1942, Page 4

FLEW WITH BADER

NEW ZEALAND PILOT. MANY THRILLING FIGHTS. A New Zealander who is an instructor on Spitfires and training new arrivals under the Empire Air Training Scheme is Flight-Lieutenant R. Bush, D.F.C., of Wellington. Flight-Lieuten-ant Bush has the distinction of being the only New Zealander who flew in the squadron led by Wing-Command-er Douglas Bader, the famous legless pilot, who is now a prisoner of war, reports a London correspondent. Before joining Bader’s squadron, Flight-Lieutenant Bush fought in France and was stationed at Abbeville before Dunkirk. He returned to England to join an all-Canadian squadron and was then sent to Chateaudun, where he arrived on the day after Fly-ing-Officer E. J. “Cobber” Kain, D.F.C., had been killed. He saw the wrecked aircraft.

During the Battle of France, FlightLieutenant Bush fought over Rheims and Nantes. He saw the Lancastria half an hour after it had been sunk, and flew to England on the day after France had capitulated. Throughout the Battle of Britain, Flight-Lieutenant Bush flew in Bader's squadron, which on one occasion shot down 33 Huns in three days. The New Zealander’s contribution was one definite and one probable. His total score is 3i- “definites,” 3 “probables,” and 3 “damaged.” Subsequently he was transferred to the “unofficial” New Zealand Squadron, which was led by Squadron-Lea-der W. G. Clouston, D.F.C., of Wellington.

Flight-Lieutenant Bush has the greatest admiration for Bader and the way in which he! held his squadron together and infused it with fighting spirit. He-has played squash with the legless pilot. Another New Zealand instructor who is at present at the same station as Flight-Lieutenant Bush is Flight-Lieu-tenant D. Carlson, Waikato.