TOUGH MACHINES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 66, 14 September 1940, Page 11

TOUGH MACHINES

SPITFIRES AND HURRICANES

(British Official Wireless.) (Received September 14, 10 a.m.) RUGBY, September 13. Many pilots who were fighting again ] today in fierce air battles over England owe their lives to the skill of the men who made the Spitfires and.Hurricanes'which carry them home, although battered, by enemy shells and bullets. After destroying a Messerschmitt 109, a Spitfire pilot had his aircraft severely damaged by shells from another Messerschmitt. He said: "My fuselage and one wing were hit, severing the rudder controls completely. The elevator cables and the wireless were also | hit. I managed, however, to return |to my base and made a forced landing with very little additional damage to the wing tips." A squadron leader who shot down a Junkers 88 then had to break away from the fight as the cooling mixture pipe of his Hurricane was hit and the cockpit became filled with smoke and fumes. He had also been hit in the sole of his shoe, in the hood behind his head, in the air screw, and in each main plane. Three ignition leads to the starboard block were shattered as well. The pilot merely reported that he had difficulty in getting back to his base.