MARLBOROUGH PILOT’S EXPERIENCE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 230, 27 June 1944, Page 5

MARLBOROUGH PILOT’S EXPERIENCE

Strafing Of Cherbourg ENTERTAINED BY FRENCH AFTER BALING OUT

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Received June 26, 11.55 p.m.) LONDON, June 26.

“Je .Suis Anglais,” shouted Flight Lieutenant Basil Collyns, Marlborough, when he saw a crowd of French people approaching him with rather menacing looks. His assertion immediately changed the atmosphere, and the French, grinning with delight, told him that Americans were not far away.

Collyns, who is a member of a Mustang squadron had been taking part in the strafing of Cherbourg before the concentrated attack. He dived down to 30 feet, firing cannons and attacking gun positions at 420 miles an hour, when his Mustang was hit by flak. He pulled up sharply to 3000 ft., intending to reacn the American lines if possible, but soon his engine began to spurt flames, so he baled out and landed- near Montebourg in a small'field near a hedge. He saw a number of troops in a. village nick up rifles and run in his direction, but before, they arrived a crowd of Frenchmen and women reached him first. Collyns, who had landed heavily and was feeling “muzzy,” clapped his hand toward his revolver and told the French he was English, They pumped his hands, clapped him on the back, kissed him, took him to a farmhouse, brought out a bottle of cognac and were holding celebrations when the Americans arrived. Eventually Collyns left the village sitting in a jeep, feeling very self-conscious as the villagers cheered him. From Montebourg he was taken to Saint Mere Eglise and was flown back to England in a transport aircraft together with Spitfire and Thunderbolt pilots and. the full crew of a Havoc, all of which had crashed in France. Meanwhile, his wife Margaret, also of Marlborough, had been informed that her husband was missing, but her fears were soon put at ease when he rang up and said he was coming to London on brief leave. Shot Down Two Planes. Flying a Mosquito “on loan” from an RA..F. squadron, Sub-Lieutenant- M. H. J. Petrie, of the Fleet Air Arm, who hails from Christchurch, shot down two Junkers 88’s off the Allied beach-head last week. Shortly after he had shot down the first and had dimly seen someone baling out over the sea, he sighted a second Junkers circling the flaming wreckage. Petrie attacked from right underneath, starting a fire in the cockpit. He saw the plane overturn and dive into the sea. Petrie said that a green glow could afterward be seen below the waves.