AIR LOSSES

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1940, Page 7

AIR LOSSES

NORTH SEA FIGHTS British Survivor’s Account [British Official Wireless! RUGBY, January 3. The Air Ministry announced that an aircraft of the/Royal Air Force on reconnaisance over enemy territory, to-day, was engaged by. a number of enemy .fighters, ,in the neighbourhood of the frontier between Belgium and Germany. In the course of the engagement, the aircraft was driven over the frontier, and was forced down. ' . ( ; The two occupants were 'rescued from the wreckage, suffering from superficial burns. A more-detailed account of the North Sea . battle between three R.A.F. bombers and 12 Messerschmidt 110 long-range fighters, is now available. The three R.A.F. aircraft left their base on patrol, .searching for enemy warships. When, flying at about 10,000 feet and some -80 miles northwest of Heligoland, and the same distance, north of Borkum, the formation was suddenly attacked. Although outnumbered by four to .one, the R.A.F. machines gave a good account of themselves. As already stated, one. R.A.F. aircraft was seen to . be shot down, and one is still missing. The pilot of the .surviving machine savs that the enemy flew “straight out Of the sun,” and were .not seen before the attack. Six enemy aircraft made three dual attacks on this machine, i during . which the rearrunner brought down one Messer’ schmidt which fell, out of control and crashed in flames into the sea. Another was hard hit .by the front gunner and made a spiral dive,- towards the sea, and it is improbable that the' pilot recovered control. Later, a third Messerschmidt was seen to fall out of the combat. The R.A.F. pilot then dived to 20 feet above the sea, and, although pursued by the enemy, successfully dndeed them for half an hour, after which the enemy abandoned the attack.

BRITISH PLANE’S CASUALTIES DRIVEN INTO BELGIUM (Received January 4, 5.5 p.m.) . LONDON, January 3.. ■lt is reported that a British plane, which landed in Belgium, had one of its crew killed, and two slightly injured. : [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, January 3.. The Air Ministry has announced:. “An aircraft of the Royal Air Force was driven over the Belgian frontier to-day, and was forced down. It'was attacked by three enemy fighters, while engaged on a reconnaissance flight over Germany. Two of the crew were slightly injured. The third was killed.”

Airman Frostbitten ON RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHT [British Official Wireless] (Received January 4, 9.30 RUGBY, January 3. Details have now been disclosed of the gallant action of a wireless operator arid air-gqnher of a R.A.F. bomber plane engaged jon a reconnaissance flight over Germany, who carried out his duties although suffering from frostbite. He is now in hospital. Weather conditions had forced the aircraft to fly at an altitude oyer three miles high. The temperature was so low that the mercury in the thermometer dropped below the minimum reading of thirty degrees below zero. The hands and feet of the wireless operator became severely frostbitten, but, despite acute, pain, he continued to man his gun and transmit reconnaissance . reports by wireless.. The . aircraft,. remained above the reconnaissance area for nearly half an .hour, find for fully, ten minutes it was subjected to intense anti-aircraft fire. .. The paralysis of his frostbitten .hands made ,the transmission of signals impossible, but, after several attempts, obtained a series of .wireless bearings which brought the aircraft safely back .to its' base, after a flight of five hours’' duration. Qn landing, the airman reported the position of two warships, one submarine, and ,one destroyer, which he; had sighted. He was then rushed to hospital. It. is feared at the hospital that he will, lose the terminal finger joints of his right hand, and possibly also one finger of his left hand.

GERMAN OVER PARIS. PARIS, January 3, A German plane flew over Paris and Eastern France last night. Anti-, aircraft fire was heard in the capital. The radio stations closed down for half-an-hour. WHO IS HE? AUCKLAND, January 4? - A brief cablegram was published in the New Zealand papers on Tuesday last, announcing the promotion /of Group. Captain F. H. M. Maynard, ; of Waiuku (Auckland) to. the rank/of Air Commodore. This has given rise to a mystery,. the rank being so high —equivalent to the.army’s BrigadierGeneral, and the navy’s Cpmmodpre —that inquiries were immediately made in Waiuku -by the “Auckland Star/’ but -neither the officials nor citizens had heard of Maynard, nor of; the Maynard family. Inquiries were made in Wellington Without result. i The Air Force headquarters had never heard of Air Commodore-May-nard. The question is still being ask;.ed, “Who is this distinguished New Zealander?’’