NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN RESCUED

Evening Star, Issue 24047, 20 November 1941, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN RESCUED

DRIFTED THIRTEEN MILES A New Zealander wing commander. xiuiiiL*, V lOiiS rlu; story ot now, :uier a tiir.iimg encounter wit. i tae enemy, ue was found adrut in ms ruooer dingny on tile X 1 Tencii coast by pilots o; Ixmasa's Air-oea uescue ooii.ce. “ my squaurou was escorting B.enheim bmuaers across tae raignmi Cnaiuici irom Clicruuu.g, ' no wr.tes.

" u.aiming uuuU i sa>* laiee red s about, to attack one ol m,\ ic;u soct.ons. X broke away quickly and intercepting the nrst at lue enemy pianos, gate it a snort burst ol file, but Without catnt. men another lUP came, lor me a.ui, pulimg round quickly, I shut him tisv. a ami stai.ed lor home again. But the tuiul ItU attacked. r pulled up, go* mn r his tail and gave nim a burst. Be.ore 1 could attack again the pilot baled out and his macli.no went crashing into the sea. . “ Starting off home again 1 lound smoko coming into the cockpit. Nnising the airemit as far as possible, 1 called up and gave my position as 14 minutes clue nqrth Irom Cherbourg. The eng.ne stopped, and as soon as my plane lauded on tho sea it sank straight to the bottom. i got out unci came to vna suriace, where J inflated my dinghy and climbed m. My position was then about 2o miles south of the English coast.” As the squadron leader was drying his clothes ho could hear motor boats, and aircraft searching all over the horizon. These were from the Directorate of Air Sea Rescue viccs, which, under the command or Air-commodore L. G. le B. Uroke ami his deputy from the Royal Navy. Captain C. L. Howe, maintains a licet of high-speed launches and specially detailed aircraft ready at -a moment s notice to dash off in search of a pilot who has come to grief in the Narrow Sons, During the rest of that day eight aircraft “passed over without spotting tho tiny speck far below. It was not until late in the evening that the airman was seen. “ When one spotted mo, wont on the squadron leader, “ all the others came over and soon there wore eight Spitfire?, a Lysander, a Wellington and several Hurricanes milling about overhead. Then motor boats appeared on tho horizon. They were a very welcome sight, for 1 had been m the dinghy nearly ten hours and had drifted and paddled about 13 miles. Every aircraft of the squadron had been’ out all day searching for mo. ’ A job like this is all in tho day s work for the Air-Sea Rescue Service, a (id sometimes a whole cross-section of Britain’s citizens may have a hand in the rescue of an airman. The police, the merchant service, and Royal Observer Corps, tho Coastguard service and the Royal National Life Boat Institution may all play their part, and the whole machinery may bo set in motion by a private citizen walking along tho seashore who_ happens to seo an aeroplane crash into the water or a torch signal flashing at night. _ The rescue launches. G3ft long and with a top speed of 43 knots can cover 500 mites without refuelling. Nets trailed over their gunwales • assist exhausted men to climb on hoard, and their equipment includes lifebelts, first-aid outfits, bunks for the wounded and emergency provisions.