N.Z. AIRMEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 May 1942, Page 4

N.Z. AIRMEN

PROMOTIONS AFTER NOTABLE SERVICE SPITFIRE SQUADRON’S DAY. THIRTY-SIX NAZI PLANES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, May 7. After outstanding service with the New Zealand Soitfire Squadron, Squadron Leader E.’P. Wells, D.F.C. and bar, has been promoted to command a wing comprising New Zealand, Australian and City of Glasgow squadions. He was one of the original members of the New Zealand Squadron, which was formed in March, 1940. He was tnen a pilot officer. The squadron has now shot down thirty-six Huns, of which Squadron-Leader Wells got seven, which is the squadron’s highest individual score. An Aucklander, Flight Lieutenant R. Grant, D.F.M., has been promoted squadron-leader, and now commands the squadron. His promotion is equally as rapid as Squadron Leader Wells’s. He was sergeant when he joined the squadron last autumn. He was commissioned at the New Year and promoted Flight Lieutenant in March. He shot down throe enemy machines for the New Zealand Squadron, making his total bag six. Squadron Leader Grant’s flight commanders will be M. M. Shand (Wellington) and R. W. Baker (Dunedin), both of whom are promoted flight lieutenants. Flying Lieutenant Shand fought in the Battle of Britain, when he was wounded. The squadron now enters a new phase, since all its original members are either transferred or have become casualties. L. P. Griffith, of Levin, was the last to be transferred. He was promoted flight lieutenant in another squadron. Pilot Officer I. J. McNeill, of Tiritiki, has also been transferred as aerial gunnery instructor. During the squadron’s first year the D.F.C. and bar were awarded to Squadron Leader ’Wells. The Distinguished Flying Cross was also awarded to Squadron Leader M. W. B. Knight and Flight Lieutenants W. V. S. Compton and G. Francis. Recently Pilot Officer M. Checketts, of Invercargill, baled out over the English Channel when he was pounced on by six German machines. He was in the water for an hour and a quarter before he was picked up. The Hun fired at Flight Lieutenant Baker who circled over Pilot Officer Checketts while he was paddling. Pilot Officer Checketts, with Flight Lieutenant Shand and Flight Sergeant R. R. Robson, of Hastings, had all previously notched probables in dogfights. Pilot Officers J. J. Palmer (Havelock North) and J. R. Falls (Napier) recently baled out over occupied territory. A second New Zealand Fighter Squadron has now completed training and is ready to begin operations as a night fighter squadron. New Zealand fighter pilots in Malta include Sergeant J. D. Rae (Auckland) and Pilot Officer B. Ingram.