MAORI AIRMEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 July 1942, Page 4

MAORI AIRMEN

— SERVING IN BOMBING SQUADRON. SOME ADVENTUROUS EXPLOITS. (Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 22. A_ Maori All Black in 1938, Sergeant J. H. Wetere, Morrinsville, is now flying a Hurricane bomber. He and Sergeant W. Tye, Wanganui, are the only New Zealanders in a squadron which includes men from Fighting France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, the Gold Coast, Ireland, and England. It is called the Mauritius Squadron because Mauritius raised funds for Hurricanes. Sergeant Tye said: “It is the best job of the lot. There is plenty of excitement.” He has carried out five operations. and Sergeant Wetere seven. Sergeant Wetere was in two dive-bombing raids against a shell-filling factory at Marquise, near Boulogne. “We arrived, over the target at a height of 10,000 feet,” he said, “and peeled off and went into a dive at an angle of 70 degrees, working up to 400 miles an hour. I released our bombs at 1000 feet, and we then carried on the dive, flattening out just above the ground. We then began weaving violently to escape flak and machine-gun fire. I could see flak coloured red and green spurting round everywhere. I ducked down gullies and over trees and hedges, being fired at till we reached the sea. We hit our targets. In fact we could not miss.” Sergeants Tye and Wetere were together in a raid against a parachute silk factory at Calais. Sergeant Tye said: “It was a beautiful, clear day. We saw our target from half-way across the Channel, when we were flying at 12,000 feet. We came down several thousand feet, when we met a terrific flak barrage. I was weaving all the time. I heard a shell burst under me, with the result that lump of shrapnel went clean through the Hurricane two feet behind the cockpit. We did not stay long after bombing the target.” Sergeant Wetere said: “A piece of flak went through my perspex hood, inches away from my head. I heard it whistle past. We also had a piece of our tail-plane blown off. It was not so good.” Sergeant Tye has taken part in raids against Dunkirk, where he bombed docks and railway sidings, and also St. Omer aerodrome, where the Huns jumped on them, but the Hurricanes evaded by turning sharply. Sergeant Wetere bombed .a factory from' 200 feet at Gamaches with a Canadian. This Hurricane bombing is dangerous but exciting work. The bombers carry two 2501 b. bombs and have 12 machine-guns. They are usually escorted by Spitfires. Sergeant Wetere is one of the few Maori pilots in Britain, others being Pilot Officer Kingi Tahiwi, Wanganui, who is flying torpedo-bombers, and Sergeant P. J. Pohe, Taihape, who has completed one tour of operations. There are several Maori air-gunners in Britain.