N.Z. AIRMEN

Grey River Argus, 19 November 1942, Page 2

N.Z. AIRMEN

DOINGS ABROAD. LONDON. November IG. Ono of the original members of the seventy-fifth New Zealand Wellington bomber squadron. Squadron Leader John Adams. D.F.C.. A. c.f Christchurch, was recently commander of.a flight of Marauder American aircraft living to Kgypt'irom America. These Marauders cruisp at. two hundred miles an hour, and probably were used in the- recent battle of Egypt. Adams was one of twelve pilots* selected to fly six Wellingtons t ( . New Zealand before the war. They later formed a flight which afterwards grew to the New Zealand Squadron, with which Adams carried cut thirty-six raids. He was then Commanding Officer of a blind approach school for a year. It operated. without missing a day, with seven aircraft and four instructors, entirely without instructors. Adams was then appointed a Group Training Inspector until he left for America with a specially-selected crew to carry out tests with American aircraft. He there formed a unit to fly twelve- Marauders to Egypt. Amyjng in Egypt, lig staj’rd with tns squadron as instructor, until sent to Canada, where he instructed transAtlantic ferry pilots. He recently flew a Flying Fortress to England from Canada. Squadron Leader- IL J. N-e-ale of Marlborough, Sergeants B. L. M. Jek’ns (Stratford), B. A. Bumbley (Hastings), and J’. H. McDonald (Southland) took part in the latest Genoa raids. _ • Flight Lieutenant vV’. V. C. Compton. D.F.C. (Mission Bav). has now raised his score of shot down Germans to nine definite- and four probable. also seven damaged He hds r-arried out 134 sweeps, and has recently accompanied . American-oper-ated Flying Fortresses over France. His score was piled up by plodding and hard work, chiefly during sweeps. Pilot Officer P. J. MacAvoy of Dunedin is one of the few New Zealanders in the Liberators in the- Coastal Command. He is a. navigator. He has carried out two hundred and seventy operational hours, chiefly in anti-submarine patrolling, convoying and protecting shins in the western approaches, and also in the Bay of Biscay. .