AIRMEN FOR ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 102, 2 May 1941, Page 6

AIRMEN FOR ENGLAND

NEW ZEALAND DRAFT

SNOW AND FROST

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, March 12. To lie on their bunks, sweltering in the heat of the tropics, bathed in perspiration, and then within a short week or £wo to find themselves checking a thermometer registering 40 degrees of frost while they swathed themselves in ear muffs, was the experience of the latest draft of New Zealand airmen to reach England after travelling across Canada. The journey lasted several weeks and the New Zealanders described it as "a glorified tour." . This route is now being used by some of the New Zealand airmen who have been trained in the Dominion, and they have been reaching England' in a steady stream. They arrive in the best of health and with many { memories of the voyage. The latest arrivals were Pilot Officers D. J. Jamieson, D. D. H. Hammon, and J. M. Steeds (Christchurch), J. N. E. B. Kerr (.Timaru), W. S. Emmett (Wanganui), G. E. Guthrie and C. S. Parkes (Feilding), W. S. Sandman (Auckland), Sergeants G. H. Easton, W. G. Jesson, A. F. Potter (Christchurch), A. W. Bird, (Timaru), A. G. Russell (Dunedin), H. C. Kimpton (Marton), G. A. Johnston (Invercargill), R. C. Munro, J. A. Hoffens, F. M. Laing, E. J. Kean, and F. T. Morgan (Wellington), C. A. Armstrong, C. F. Dare, G. H. Fenton, and R. J. C. Granf (Auckland), A. J. Cowlrick and K. M. Palmer (Napier), L. B. McCarthy (Wanganui), and B. E. H. Layne (Hamilton). One of the sergeants, J. S. Parry (Paeroa), contracted measles in Montreal and was obliged to stay there when the remainder sailed on. With the exception of 10, all are bomber pilots. The exceptions are fighter pilots. They were given shore leave at their first port of call, and their chief memories appear to be the number of souvenirs they collected. After two hours' leave in Vancouver, the party set off on a three-day train journey across Canada to Montreal. GOOD TIME IN MONTREAL. "The train was comfortable enough, but it was a pretty cold trip on the whole," was the comment of Sergeant Johnston. "There was snow outside all the time, and at Winnipeg there were 41 degrees of frost. Many of us got extra gear—gloves, ear muffs, and so on. At times it was so cold when we got out of the carriages that your nostrils froze and got stuck if you took a deep breath. "Montreal was a great place. We all had 10 days' leave there, and everyone had a great time. We went to the Ice Follies, to ice hockey, to night clubs, and generally had a pretty good look around. The Canadians were all very good to us, and we visited a numiber of private homes. The V.M.C.A. j looked after us too. "On the way over from Canada we had a pretty rough crossing and for a day were confined below decks. Apart from that there was no incident worth mentioning. We were all glad to get to England. Now we shall be broken up and posted to our different units, and this will be the first time we've been split up since we started training in New Zealand."

A number of Canadian and Australian airmen arrived with the New Zealanders, giving excellent proof to the people of Britain of the-fruits of the Empire Air Training Scheme.