PRECIOUS PASSENGER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 August 1942, Page 4

PRECIOUS PASSENGER

MR CHURCHILL’S LATEST TOUR SOME SIDELIGHTS THROWN BY PILOTS. NEW USE FOUND FOR FAMOUS CIGAR. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) RUGBY, August 25. ♦ Some sidelights on Mr Churchill’s 14,000 mile flight in a Liberator were thrown today by Captain W. J. Van Der Kloot, first pilot, Mr Jack Ruggles, second pilot and Squadron-Lead-er Kimber, A.F.C., navigator. Captain Kloct, whose home is in California and whose wife is a Scotswoman, told how Mr Churchill spent two-thirds of his time in the cockpit and, with one of the pilots, often took over the controls. The longest hop made was from Teheran to Moscow — 2,400 miles, flown in 10 j hours. No hostile aircraft were seen throughout the trip and except for the precious passenger the flight was uneventful. The most exciting moment was when they landed in England last night. On one night Mr Churchill arrived on the flight deck at 2.30 a.m. He was dressed in a Russian nightcap, which looked like a Chinese mandarin’s —a dressing gown and carpet slippers. The rest of his attire was very English, even to the “P.M.” marked on his slippers. During some parts of the journey, Mr Churchill, like other members of the party wore an oxygen mask, but at other times he sat back smoking a cigar. The pilots paid a tribute to Mr Churchill’s knowledge on the technical side and terminology of flying, adding that he knew all the R.A.F. slang. In one place so enthusiastic was the reception that the troops would not let Mr Churchill return to the plane. He took his cigar from his mouth and flung it over their heads. The troops dived for it, and while the scramble was going on he walked unhampered to the waiting aircraft. MAGNIFICENT PART IN STEMMING RETREAT. BRITISH PREMIER PRAISES NEW ZEALANDERS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) RUGBY, August 25. “You have played a magnificent part,” Mr Churchill said to New Zealanders when he visited them in Egypt—“an inimitable and even decisive part in stemming a retreat which might have been very serious to the British Empire., There are many eyes on the opposite side of the world fixed upon you, but there are more eyes still fixed upon you in Britain.” Speaking to a Press representative | in Cairo, Mr Churchill said he wanted to make it absolutely clear that the British were determined to fight for Egypt and tire Nile Valley as if they were the soil of England itself. Everything that could be brought by ships or air to drive, back the enemy would be brought. DESERT JOURNEY VISITS TO BATTLE AFIEAS. CONFERENCE WITH GENERALS & OTHERS. (Received This Day. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, August 25. On his way back to England from Moscow Mr Churchill again visited the desert to inspect the troops of the Eighth Army, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent. Accompanied by Generals Alexander, Montgomery and Brooke the Prime Minister drove slowly past a long line of- massive General Grant tanks and then greeted the New Zealanders. He congratulated LieutenantGeneral Freyberg on the New Zealanders’ vital and gallant part in the Battle for Egypt. . . Mr Churchill also visited British armoured units and infantry. Inspecting the infantrymen he told a group of ~ sergeants: “You have got to get your own back on these people. Great events are afoot and everybody in England is-watching now. AH eyes are on you. Good luck!” The Prime Minister motored past dozens of new gunpits and acres of new minefields south of the Ruweisat Ridge, where Mr Churchill’s convoy pulled up. Anti-aircraft units stood in readiness and watchers swept the sky with field-glasses, but the secret was well kept and no enemy planes appeared. Mr Churchill visited the New Zealand cemetery, where a few Britons and Germans are also buried, all recently killed in action. He stood briefly bare-headed and then entered a Honey tank, in which he travelled over the desert to the edge of the Qattara depression. While in Cairo, Mr Churchill again plunged into the work of overhauling ihe great Middle East war machine. He conferred with Generals Auchinleck, Alexander, Tedder and Maxwell, Prince Mahomet Ali, heir-apparent to the Egyptian throne, and the Vice President of Greek Council of Ministers, M. Canelopoulos. Mr Churchill also gave much attention to Iraq. Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, G.O.C. the Tenth Army, LieutenantGeneral Quinan and the R.A.F. commander in Iraq, came to Cairo for conferences. Lord Gort also came from Malta. At Teheran Mr Churchill conferred with the Shah, en route to Moscow, and on his return.