DARING EXPLOITS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20859, 11 August 1942, Page 3

DARING EXPLOITS

N.Z. PILOT’S AWARD MIDDLE EAST SERVICE NAMESAKES’ EXPERIENCES (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent.) (9 a.m.) CAIRO, Aug. 10.A series of daring exploits in the air have won for Flight Sergeant Ernest Leslie Joyce, of Hamilton, the immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Medal. Sergeant Joyce belongs to the same squadron as New Zealand’s ace pilot, “Cobber” Kain, who was killed in an accident just before the Battle of Britain. The citation to his award says that' he is an outstanding desert pilot. He is an experienced ground strafer. He took part in a night attack on| Martuba aerodrome and dived down to 500 ft. under heavy clouds. He dropped a flare under an intense barrage of ack-ack fire. Three runs across the target were made by Sergeant Joyce until all his ammunition was exhausted. His daring on that occasion contributed much to the success of that raid, in which about a dozen enemy aircraft were destroyed. One night in June he found a Junkers 88 above him. By skilful manoeuvring he closed to within 50 yds. and opened up his guns. Three of his guns jammed,- but -he held on tenaciously, swept to another attack, and shot the German down in flames. So far in the Middle East, Sergeant Joyce has destroyed two Junkers 88 by night and one Messerschmitt 109 and two CR42S. He also has a good bag of probables and damaged. Enthusiasm and Enterprise

Before coming to the Middle East he had a share in the destruction of a Junkers 88 and one Heinkel 111. A friend of Sergeant Joyce told me that he had performed exceptionally fine and continuous service since he joined his squadron in July, 1941. His daring and his never-flagging enthusiasm and enterprise have won him the admiration of all with whom he has been associated. It is a coincidence that another New Zealand pilot of the same name —R. J. Joyce, was second pilot of a Middle East Wellington bomber whose crew were involved in a remarkable series of incidents. Over a period of 12 days, the bomber’s crew of five crashlanded deep in enemy territory, commandeered a German transport at the pistol point, made their way through the Axis lines to Alamein, were captured and taken to a prison camp at Mersa Matruh, and again escaped from a point only a few miles from their original starting point. It was on the night of July 24, after a raid on Tobruk, that Joyce’s .bomber crashed near Solium, after being hit in the port engine and the petrol tank. The crew jettisoned all the detachable equipment but the only hope for the crew was in a belly-landing. They did it. Once on their hazardous journey back through the German lines the crew found themselves in a really tight corner. They were moving as quietly as possible but still they were making a noise. The Germans poked their noses from their trucks, hissing “Shush,” and the escaping crew “Shushed” back. Their luck held, and they got away.