WINNING THE Y.C.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 18, 16 October 1917, Page 5

WINNING THE Y.C.

AUSTRALIAN,AIRMAN'S EXPLOIT.

Captain F. Macnamara, of Melbourne, IB recovering from a severe wound in tho right foot, sustained in ri notable exploit Iwhich won for Mm his V.C. decoration. Ho was a, unit of a British flying squadron, which was ■ detailed on April fa> Txraib the enemy-railhead a'few miles ■beyond Gaza, in Palestine. On the return journey to the aerial Ijase he saw in the desert, with his" aeroplane temporarily. disabled, Captain Rutherford, a Q'ucenslander. His own machine tad developed a defect, but Captain Macnamara saw that a.body of Turkish cavalry was approaching to attack liis comrade, and he risked descent to rescue him. He ■found that llutherford's machine could !be made fit for tho escape. With very little time to spare lie burned his own machine, and mounted the other aeroplane, .with Eutherford as passenger. In.the ascent an unexploded bomb went off, and •painfully injured his right foot, as well ns impairing tho steering apparatus. Though it:was seventy-five miles to the fcaso outside El Arish, Captain Macnamara stuck to his trying task, and to stave oft' his faintness through loss of Wood, had to lean out of the cab of the machine, so that a current of fresh air played constantly on his face. When he landed at tho aerodrome the recipient of the Victoria Cross was on the point of collapse, and was given a rousing reception when his feat became lcnowu. He spent some weeks in hospital, in Egypt, and is now well on (lie way to l-ccovery.