BELOVED LEADER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 July 1942, Page 4

BELOVED LEADER

WING COMMANDER FINUCANE PILOTS PAY TRIBUTE. AUSTRALIA’S NUMBER ONE AIR HERO. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 23. Australians who fought with Wing Commander Brendan (“Paddy”) Finucane are disconsolate at the death of their old leader. “There’ll never be another flyer like Paddy,” said Squadron Leader Keith (“Bluey”) Truscott, D.F.C., when he was told the news at an operational base. Three other pilots who flew in Finucane’s Australian Spitfire Squadron are also at the base. “Paddy saved my life twice,” said Truscott. “He was more concerned with looking after the lives of other chaps than his own. He was always keen to help the other fellow, especially fledglings out for their first kill.” Truscott received a cable from Finucane only a few days ago. It read: “When are you .coming back. I miss your ugly mug.—Paddy.” Truscott, who is Australia’s Number One air hero and was second-in-com-mand to Finucane in the Australian Spitfire Squadron, recently returned to Australia. The well-known sportsman John Wren presented Truscott and Finucane with £5OO each as tokens of appreciation of their work. R.A.F. regulation would not permit Finucane to receive the money, which was then given to his mother to hold in trust. “Paddy was the best fighter-pilot the world has ever known,” said Truscott. “He taught me everything I know about flying. I roomed with him all the time I was in,England. He was going to come to Australia with his wife after the war. “I knew Jean Woolford, his fiancee, very well. She is a grand girl and a lovely one. They were to be married this month. “I knew that if Paddy went they would get him with fire from the ground. The Germans hadn’t a pilot to touch him. He was a wizard in the air. “On my first operational flight I got separated from the squadron and was in a real haze. Paddy came back for me and fought off the Messerschmitts which were attacking me. He saved my life again when I joined a squadron of Messerschmitt 109’s which I thought were Spitfires. I yelled for help and Paddy came right in. “He was a marvellous chap. Every man in the squadron idolised him. There’ll never be another pilot like Paddy.” After hearing the news Truscott renamed his fighter. “That name will always be on any plane I fly,” he said., The name was “Paddy.”