QUICK DESCENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1942, Page 3

QUICK DESCENT

INTO THE CHANNEL. NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN’S ADVENTURE. (Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 25. Pilot Officer J. M. Checketts, Invercargill, who baled out in the English Channel recently, parachuted from only 800 feet and hit the water almost at the same time as his Spitfire, from which the starboard wing was almost blown off. “Flight Lieutenant Baker, Dunedin, was leading our section, followed by Pilot Officer M. Hume, Wellington,” said Pilot Officer Checketts. “I was next, and then Flight Sergeant D. M. Russell, Auckland. We were flying at 25,000 feet over Boulogne when the Huns ‘bounced’ us. I saw a Hun attack Sergeant I. P. Maskill, Invercargill, who was in another section, and then the Hunn attacked Russell. He and I turned to meet a Hun who overshot, putting me in a nice position to ‘squirt’ the Hun, who was attacking M.'askill, after which I turned to rejoin Baker, but before I could reach him four Focke-Wulfs ‘bounced’ me from above. I tried to climb to fight them, but the next thing I heard was a dull boom. I saw that most of my starboard wing had gone, also the radio telephone, and the airspeed indicator was out of action. “I rolled on my back and spun down to escape from the Huns, and then decided to get as near to England as possible before baling out. I glided toward England from 23,000. feet, partly assisted by my motor,- and then, after a second spin, bailed out. It was a. marvellous sensation before I pulled the cord. I hit the water very soon after the parachute opened. It flopped all over me, preventing me getting into the dinghy. Meanwhile I was swallowing buckets of sea water, but eventually T managed to cut the shrouds and get into the dinghy, after

which I paddled for an hour till a naval boat arrived. I was very glad to see it, for I was bitterly cold, my teeth chattering like mad. They gave me a welcome whisky. I did not even catch a cold.” Pilot Officer Checketts was flying again with the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron after a break of 48 hours.