A ROUND TRIP.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16397, 17 December 1918, Page 5

A ROUND TRIP.

YOUNG AIRMAN'S ESCAPE,

(from our own correspondent.) ; LONDON, September 26. 1 Lieutenant Samuel Dawson, R.A.F., 1 of M-asterton, had an exciting experience on the occasion on which he was awarded tho Distinguished Flying Cross. The official description states that he "was engaged in a long-distance bombing raid on an enemy aircraft station 1 under very -difficult circumstances, and 1 carried out a successful attack from a low height in :he face of severe enemy re- " . X As a matter of fact it -was Ljputenaml Dawson's one and only bombing expedition to date..- On July 19tli no was one of a flight of bombers who rose from a British squadron off the coast of Schleswig to attack a German airship station well inland. The day was not very clear, and it was some time before they found their objective or before the objective disclosed itself by a lively barrage. The British airmen then dropped rapidly from six thousand to three or four hundred feet, and dropped! their eggs on the objective. Lieutenant Dawson's machine was riddled by shrapnel but not damaged in any vital part, j Unfortunately, however, he and one or two others were short of petrol, and! they were compelled to make a landing in a lonely part of Denmark. Lieuten- j ant Dawson himself was within tew minutes' flight of the rendezvous when, ' his petrol gave out. In spiteof a tyre punctured by shrap- I nel, he made a safe landing, and at once skirmished about in the hope ofi ( buying some petrol. The only village' near was a fishing community which, of i course, did not stock the commodity, so he got into touch with the British Con- ' sul who promised to send him some) spiHt. After waiting for some time in the hope of it arriving, he proceeded to a lighthouse and got a suit of civilian clothes in exchange for his uniform, and then, after a walk and cycle ride of from fifteen to twenty miles, got to tho railway to proceed to Esbjerg. The Consul left the train during the journey, and police, who had been watching for I tho missing airman, immediately came I up and arrested Lieutenant Dawson. He was taken to a hotel in Esbjerg, j whore he found two of his f-llow-airmen, ; ■who had also been compelled to land, j and they were kept under close surveillance. They had all made up their minds to escape if possible* and Lieutenant Dawson took an early opportunity of snatching one of the detective's hata and simply walking out of tho hotel. Being_unable to speak a word of Danish, he said as little as possible, and soon! found himself on the train for Copen- ■ hagen. | On the ferry-boat from Nyborg to Korsor he travelled for three hours i within arm's length of a detective without being discovered. During; most of the time he rendered himself inconspicuous by pretending to read a Danish newspaper. After spending three days in Copenhagen, he cycled out of the city and embarked in a sailing boat with a angle companion—a Dane. On the voyage across to Sweden they passed within call of a German trawler. Landing on a quiet part of the coast, Lieutenant Dawson followed his instructions and reached a small town where an Englishman gave him welcome advice, which enabled him to eet to Gothenburg. Hero he remained five days waiting for a pnssportj and then travelled overland to Chnstiania, the capital of Norway, and! thence embarked from a Norwegian port. He arrived in Sootland on Aug- i ust 5th —a little oyer a fortnight from the date of the raid. I Lieutenant Dawson was in the Post : and Telegraph Department, stationed at various places, including Wellington, '! Dargaville Waihi, and Paeroa. He i ■ volunteered at the outbreak of the war i but was turned down; eighteen months j, later he was passed as fit and went into 11 camp, but after three weeks' training i i he had to be discharged for medical reasons. < In 1916 he -went to Australia, and - after learning wireless telegraphy, join- ■ ed the Australian -Navy and served for * twelve mpnths in the transport service ( chiefly in the Mediterranean. He sign- i ed off in England in June, 1917, and i shortly aftenvards was appointed a probationary'flight officer in the R.N.A.S. 1 After training through in different sta- 1 tions he was attached to the fleet. 3

Canada has now well established toy and wall-paper industries, amongst others, which have replaced the formerly practically exclusive German trade in these lines. Pencils are another line in which a Canadian-made article has ousted to a very great extent imported goods.