AERIAL FEAT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 7

AERIAL FEAT

AID FOR COMRADE Speeding Spitfire Pilot To The Rescue Rec. 2 p.m. RUGBY, Nov. 16. The remarkable storv of how a Spitfire pilot, flying at 300 miles an hour over the sea yesterday, was able to detach a rubber dinghy and throw it to a comrade in the water was told by the pilot to-day. A collapsible rubber dinghy, carried by fighter pilots. is attached to the parachute pack and also to the pilot's kit by a cord.

The pilot uses the packed dinghy as a cushion. It can be easily and quickly inflated once the pilot releases the parachute, and the cord keeps it floating near the pilot in the water until he has time to climb into it. The pilot's seat in a fighter is so small that he can hardly move his body, and it has been thought impossible for the pilot to detach the dinghy while in his aircraft.

This is how the Spitfire pilot did it yesterday when he saw a comrade swimming in the water. He undid all the complicated straps, thus releasing his parachute and safety harness. Then he stood up and pushed himself over as far as he could squeeze to the right-hand side of the cockpit, controlling his aircraft just above the wave-tops with his right hand and foot. With his free hand he gradually worked the dinghy and parachute up his left side and flew along at 50 feet over the spot where his friend was in the water.

As he passed he held the dinghy high in the air and let it fly out of his hand. He slipped the parachute back under him and fastened the harness. He then was attacked— without suffering any damage—by a German fighter from astern and was unable to see if his comrade reached the dinghy.