OVER YUGOSLAVIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 16, 20 January 1944, Page 6

OVER YUGOSLAVIA

N.Z. PILOTS* WORK > (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) ; ITALY, January 14. While the New Zealand troops struggled through the steep hills on the Eighth Army's front, other men from the Dominion have been fighting another battle in southern Europe. They are Spitfire pilots of the Coastal Air Force. Day after day since- the Allied landing in Italy at least eight New Zealanders in these squadrons have crossed the Adriatic to support the patriot forces fighting in Yugoslavia. Not many miles from their bases in Italy they have found targets in German encampments, radio stations, and columns of transport along the roads in Yugoslavia. Unlike most Spitfire pilots operating in Italy, they have also found German fighter opposition, and have shot down several Messerschmitts in running battles over the sea. One of the coastal fighter squadrons, famous for its part in the defence of Malta, now has as its commanding officer Squadron Leader Richard Webb, of Levin, formerly a test pilot in the Middle East. He and Flight Lieutenant Edward Schrader, of Wellington, shared in the destruction of four German fighters caught trying to interfere with a sea rescue operation. His squadron, one of the youngest in the R.A.F., shot down eight Messerschmitts in a few weeks. A Rakaia farmer, Pilot Officer Norman Harrison, has scored two and a half confirmed. , Two more of the old Malta fighter formations, one a Gold Coast squadron which with 322 confirmed victories has one of the highest total scores in the RAF have New Zealand pilots—Flying Officer Arnold Lamb, Dunedin; j Pilot Officer R. S. Caldwell, Huntly; Flight Sergeants C. P. Jacobsen Wellington; and Austin, Christchurch; and X C Loe, Marlborough, all of whom have been flying Spitfires across Yugoslavia and Albania. A description of the destruction of the four Messerschmitts appears on page 5. '