MOST DECORATED FIGHTER PILOT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24571, 21 May 1945, Page 3

MOST DECORATED FIGHTER PILOT

RETURN TO N.Z. FROM BRITAIN WING COMMANDER W. V. CRAWFORD-COMPTON ( PA.) - AUCKLAND, May 19. One, of the ■world’s most tamous and most decorated fighter pilots, Wmg Commander W. V. CrawfordCompton, D.5.0., D.F.C. and Bar, U.S. Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre, and Czechoslovakian Clasp, arrived at Auckland yesterday afternoon from Britain. He left London the day after V-E Day, which he spent in company with many New Zealanders, includmg Sergeant J. Hinton. V.C., whom he met at a party in the Savoy. Wing Commander Crawford-Comp-ton said that everywhere in Britain New Zealand’s name was held ill affectionate respect. On the way out to the Dominion he was more than once accosted by American and Canadian officers, who spoke in most glowing terms concerning the New Zealand Division as fighters. An amusing incident at New York was recalled by Wing-Commander Crawford-Compton, who said that when he was standing by a letter box, a young woman came up breathlessly, torced three or four letters into his hand and asked: “Have you cleared the letter box yet?” She had mistaken him for a mailman. Very quietly he replied, “No, I haven’t cleared it.” After D Day Wing Connucuiufci- ciawford-Comp-toii s<uu me wuisi -joo ox me wnme war was tue suuu up of ooJ to 4uu uOrses atier u uay m a uerman Uansiiurc Cuaipuaua. oeverai pilots were °° upset oy tms a.stasiefm iow-jevei tasu mat uiey vomited atter getting out 01 me aircratt. it was a neastiy uusiuess, ue said, . *or aoout a fortnight after D Day the tiUiiwane began to snow signs o. giave deterioration, and soon was scarcely to be recupned with at all until it rained for a final stand before uie Rhine. Then it once more went to pieces. Up till 1942,' the German fighters were very game said Wing Commander Crawford-Compton, and would look for a fight but after that, umess they were in overwhelming numbers, they always made off smartly on sighting Spitfires, which they dreaded. The German fighters were faster than Spitfires, but the Spits could beat them on the turns, and the Nazis quickly learned to their cost that the British had their measure in dogfights. Asked what he considered his closest shave. Wing Commander CrawfordCompton said that his biggest fright was when he found himself being chased on the other side of the Channel by about six Germans, who gave him all they had. He eluded them by a smart series of spirals and turns, firing all the time to frighten his attackers. He got away grateful for the fact that he was not to be a prisoner of war. The thought that they could shoot him down never crossed his mind. r Battle of Britain Unquestionably, he said, the Battle of Britain was an outstanding success by reason of the Spitfires’ marvellous manoeuvrability. It was unlikely that Britain could have survived without the Spitfire, because the available aircrews were depleted 50 per cent, over Dunkirk, and a fighting machine of extraordinary capacity was required to compensate. He would never have survived the six-to-one attack mentioned had bis Spitfire failed him for a moment. As it was. the engine had responded to such abnormal demands that it bad to be Immediately renewed. A long-rsnge fighter type was now being developed which would be most useful in the vast distances to be covered in the Pacific combat. Wing Cbmmander Crawford-Comp-ton speaks most highly of Wing Commanders Alan Deere and Colin Gray, who. like himself, have risen to their present eminence from the rank of sec-ond-class /aircraftman. Wing Commander Crawford-Compton’s own operational hours in Spitfires total 800 —a record—and Wing Commander Deere and he have each shot down 214 enemy aeroplanes. He said that Squadron Leader Johnny Gibson, ' D.5.0., D.F.C., an Auckland survivor of the first Battle for France and the Battle of Britain, who had shot down 134 Nazis and one Jap, had, since his return to Europe, shot down more Germans, but how many was not known.