ESCAPED DEATH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 144, 20 June 1942, Page 7

ESCAPED DEATH

U.S. FIGHTER PILOTS

ATTACKED BY CROCODILE

( 0-C.) SYDNEY, June 17. Two remarkable stories of escapes from death by American fighter pilots operating over New Guinea have been revealed.

Lieutenant Gentry R. Plunkett, of Lynchburg, Virginia, was flying at about 15,000 feet above the New Guinea mountains when he was attacked by three Zeros, which dived on him from clouds. Plunkett's machine caught fire, and he bailed out, but when the parachute opened ne lost consciousness. He awoke to and himself in a tree in the jungle, but minus his flying boots, which apparently had been torn from his feet during the drop.

He climbed from the tree and set out for the coast. In order to save his feet he followed streams and swam along them as much as possible. He was swimming a large river when he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, and saw the snout of a large crocodile beside him. He tried to dive under the crocodile, which bit him again, this time on the right shoulder. Plunkett managed to draw his jungle knife. He lunged at the crocodile and caught its snout as it was striking at him again. The crocodile swam off and Plunkett reached the shore. With the help of natives he made his way to Port Moresby.

The other pilot, whose name has not been revealed, was trying to make a forced landing when his machine was losing height over New Guinea. He struggled "to keep the machine flying, but before long it had reached such a low level that even a parachute jump seemed suicidal. However, he made the jump and pulled the ripcord, but the parachute did not have time to open and he was hurtling to earth with the useless folds of the parachute only slightly retarding his drop. His abandoned machine was hurtling earthwards almost directly beneath him and, when the pilot was close abov2 it, it struck the earth and exploded. The terrific explosion, sending up a tremendous blast of air, forced the folds of the parachute to apen and the pilot's fall was broken. He emerged with some burns and scars as a result of the explosion and his fall, but otherwise he was not hurt

An American captain who parachuted into the sea was brought many miles back to safety by three aborigines in a dugout canoe. During a Japanese raid the American's plane plunged into a group of mangroves on the shore of a remote island, but. the pilot came down near a beach. His legs were burned, but he freed himself from his parachute and swam ashore. Three aborigines, who had seen the smoke of the burning aircraft, tracked him. They set off with him for the mainland over dangerous waters in their primitive canoe. 20 feet long, and only two feet-wide. One night was spent on an island, where the American was given coconut milk to drink and, after paddling all the second day, they reached the Australian mainland. One native stayed with the wounded man. making him comfortable and spearing fish for his meal. The other two natives made a long overland journey to an air force station. The blacks led an ambulance to the American captain.