CHINA'S SQUADRONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 20, 25 January 1939, Page 5

CHINA'S SQUADRONS

TWO N.Z. RECRUITS. FIRST FROM DOMINION. FIGHTING EXPERIENCE IN SPAIN. (By a Special Correspondent.) HOXGKOXG, January 10. The hope of earning a living in China by their trade has brought two aviators from Xew Zealand to the East. One of them bears on his right shoulder the mark of a Spanish insurgent bullet, intercepted during a dog fight in Spain early in the civil war. The two airmen are E. X. Grifiths and L. A. Willicombe. They arrived from Australia by the Taiping and are tire first foreigners from Australia to join Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek's squadrons since the Australian Lt. Whitehead was shot down by Japanese pursuits over Shanghai in the early day* of the Far East conflict. Whitehead had been instructing the Chinese pilots which were then under the sole command of Madame Chiang. It is Mr. Grifiths who has seen the fighting in Spain. He arrived there 10 days after the outbreak of war and enlisted with a unit of fighters in Madrid. In the next eight months he had fighting in plenty, his official tally of insurgent 'planes brought down being four. His service for Loyalist Spain ended abruptly when he was hit in a dog fight, but he brought his 'plane safely back to the base and escaped capture. He subsequently went to America and now he is seeking his fortune in China. His partner, Mr. Willicombe, has no fighting experience beyond manoeuvres with the Xew Zealand Air Force. In his search for a living, the spirit of adventure has guided him to the East. Both men are proceeding to Henyang, headquarters of Chiang's squadrons.