NEW ENEMY FIGHTER

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 114, 9 February 1944, Page 6

NEW ENEMY FIGHTER

Encountered Over Rabaul ißy Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.)

(Special Australian Correspondent.) SIDNEY, February 8. The Japanese used their latest type of fighter in an attempt to smash the Allied raid on Rabaul on Friday. It is known as the "Tojo,” and closely resembles the American Brewster Buffalo. It is powered by a single radial engine, but further details have not been disclosed. It has been observed in small numbers by Allied airmen in the Southwest Pacfic during the past two mouths, but this is its first official mention. It has not operated in any strength, and has usually been flown with Zeros.. The tubby Brewster Buffalo used by the R.A.F. in East Asia, including Malaya, has a long range, but in combat proved inferior to the Japanese fighters.

BOMBER DAMAGED Propeller Tears Through Fuselage

(•By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) LONDON, February 7.

Pilot Officer J. S. Leech, North Auckland, was the navigator of a Halifax bomber which was returning from Berlin when one of the propellers tore itself from the engine and crashed through the fuselage. The propeller sliced the metal like a knife, leaving a jagged hole 4ft. long before it plunged somewhere into Germany. Though it. ripped through the wiring system to the instrument panel, the English pilot brought the Halifax safely to England. The trouble began when the starboard inenr engine, which was hit by flak, caught fire. This was put out with the aid of an automatic extinguisher, but the pilot could not feather the propeller, with the result that it continued to revolve at 4060 revolutions a minute, and its hub became red-hot. The pilot knew that it would either fly off or that the engine would blow up. The propeller carved its way along the starhoard side of the aircraft. None of the crew was injured.