STRATOSPHERE COMBATS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23802, 23 November 1942, Page 6

STRATOSPHERE COMBATS

HEROIC PILOTS IN EGYPT ENEMY RECONNAISSANCE STOPPED (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Nov. 21. The Air Ministry News Service has told how the Junkers 86, which was specially designed to fly in the stratosphere on photographic reconnaissance duties, has been mastered by Royal Air Force fighters in the Western Desert. Flying Officer R. B. Reynolds, of Kenya, a test pilot of nearly 40, after flying at more than 40,000 feet on several occasions, was the first pilot to destroy a Junkers 86. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. An ascent above 35,000 is a brush with death for any man should his oxygen supply be interrupted, and higher than that there must ensue a fight to retain consciousness. Paralysis attacks the legs and arms, and the stomach is painfully distended, and finally comes the awful penalty of height —“the bends,” which causes excruciating pain in the joints and leaves the victim in a state of nervous collapse. Day after day Flying Officer Reynolds went up. After the first Junkers 86 was destroyed, another appeared, flying higher than ever. Flying Officer Reynolds’ fellow test pilots one day intercepted the enemy pilot, who made out to sea as fast as he could. One pilot succeeded in' puncturing the enemy’s pressure cabin, and so forced him down, after which the other pilot got within range and shot it down. One pilot’s aeroplane ran out of petrol, and he had to bate out 40 miles from the Egyptian coast. He swam doggedly for 21 hours, and finally walked ashore to return to his home aerodrome. The battle for height then became so intense that Flying Officer Reynolds had to climb to nearly 50,000 feet to engage a Junkers 86. The temperature within the cockpit fell to 67 degrees below zero. Almost blind from weakness and pain, Flying Officer Reynolds struggled on until suddenly the enemy aircraft appeared less than 100 yards before him. He tried to fire his guns, but his arms were paralysed and the enemy turned towards the sea. Flying Officer Reynolds had been above 45,000 feet for more than an hour, but steering the aircraft by manipulating his Weight he followed the Junkers far out over the Mediterranean and finally freed his frozen hands sufficiently to join combat and fulfil his purpose. For a Spitfire to attain such heights in this climate is extraordinary. It had climbed many thousands of feet above the ceiling for which it was designed.