GALLANT N.Z. AIRMEN

Evening Star, Issue 23862, 17 April 1941, Page 10

GALLANT N.Z. AIRMEN

TWO B.F.C. AWARDS [Per United Press Association.] a WELLINGTON, April 16. Further°advice has been received at Air Headquarters giving particulars of tbo circumstances of tne award of D.F.C,’s to Flight-lieutenant U, M. Trousdale and true lato Flight-lieuten-ant 1). F. W. Barker. The-official, advice states: “Flightlieutenant Barker has constantly displayed skill and gallantry during his many operations against the enemy. In October, 1940, when returning from a raid on Magdeburg, hie port engine was hit by anti-aircraft fire, and the airscrew flew off while oyer the Dutch coast. He regained control of his aircraft after it had lost some 3,000 ft and flew across the North Sea on one engine until forced to alight on the water, 20 yards from the beach, by the failure of "his remaining engine. “ Since the early months of the war Flight-lieutenant Trousdale has been continuously employed as a fighter pilot, and his keenness and enthusiasm for operations have been most marked. Ho has destroyed at least four enemy aircraft, including one. at night.” Flight-lieutenant Barker, whose father is 'Mr S. It. Barker, of Gisborne, was subsequently reported killed in air operations in February, 1941. He was awarded the D.F.C. in December, 1940. Flight-lieutenant Trousdale, who won the D.F.C. in February, 1941. left New Zealand early, in 1939 to take up a short service commission in the ft.A.F. His father is Mr A. C. Trousdale, of Howick, Auckland.