WILD WEATHER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 4

WILD WEATHER

MET BY NEW ZEALAND TORPEDO=BOMBER

IN CRUISE OVER ATLANTIC.

PLANE LIFTED 1,500 FEET IN THREE SECONDS.

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) '(Received. This Day, 12.40 pirn.) ■ LONDON, June 1. A storm lifted a Hampden aircraft of the New Zealand TorpedoBomber -Squadron 1,500 feet in three seconds, during a recent flight over the Atlantic in search of submarines.

The plane was piloted by Pilot Officer J. H. Reason, of Morrinsville, and members of his crew were: Sergeants A. E. Collett, of Wellington, F. Macpherson, of ‘Rotorua, who is a Maori. The second navigator was a Scotsman. Pilot Officer Reason said that “the trip so far holds the record for the squadron’s 'worst weather. We knew we could expect bad conditions. We took off in‘pouring rain. : The sea was calm, but the weather gradually worsened. The freezing level was 5,000 feet. We were flying blind, about 200 feet above the sea. when we ran. into the dirtiest and blackest cloud I have ever-seen "in 'my life. All the 'instruments suddenly seemed to go haywire. I felt the aircraft lift arid shoved its nose down at least thirty degrees from the horizontal, but in a matter of about three seconds the aircraft was lifted 1,500 feet by the storm’s terrific force. I fought the controls for a while and then we carrie out of a tiny hole in the clouds and saw dirty big breakers rising from forty to fifty feet. We returned safely after flying blind for more than four and a quarter hours.” “In the course of these operations the airmen had not seen any submarines, but saw some shipping and had a few encounters with enemy aircraft. Pilot Officer D. J. Nillson, of Hastings, encountered a Junkers' 88. Each aircraft is equipped with an all-impor-tant dinghy, and also carries two pigs eons for release if the machine is forced down. '