BACK IN ENGLAND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 3

BACK IN ENGLAND

N.Z. Fleet Air Arm Pilots From Middle East

HELPED TO SHOOT UP ROMMEL | N.Z.P.A. 'Special Correspondent Rec. 9.30 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 11. Personnel of the Fleet Air Arm from New Zealand, who flew over Mediterranean convoys from desert aerodromes and also helped to shoot up Rommel's motor transport while it was moving toward El Alamein last year, have returned to England. They are Lieutenant D. K. Evans, Lieutenant L. H. Wiren and SubLieutenant D. J. Nairn, all of Wellington. Lieutenant Evans and Sub-Lieu-tenant Nairn joined their squadron in the Western Desert in February, 1942. They were stationed near a detachment of New Zealand Engineers guarding an oasis. Their squadron was commanded by Commander T. Coode (R.N.), who spent three years in New Zealand and was awarded the D.S.O. for torpedoing the German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic Ocean last year. He was lately reported missing. The New Zealanders flew Grum-man-Martlet fighters, but saw no enemy aircraft. Lieutenant Evans once shot up a U-boat, peppering it before it submerged. After Rommel advanced to El Alamein they flew from Alexandria to Nairobi before returning to England. Lieutenant Wiren once' flew a Fulmar 3000 miles on a special mission to Palestine and Syria.