THRILLING ENCOUNTER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 227, 23 August 1940, Page 4

THRILLING ENCOUNTER

GORE PILOT’S EXPERIENCE. SHELL EXPLODES IN COCKPIT. A’ 1 thrilling account of his experiences while flying on patrol with the Royal Air Force behind Dunkirk during the big German advance is given by Pilot-Officer R. R. P. Fisher in a letter to his parents, Mr and Mrs R. Fisher, Devon Street, Gore. PilotOfficer Fisher, who w r as posted missing on May 28, and who w r as reported safe in England a fortnight later, tells of the ordeal of having a cannon shell explode in his cockpit while flying at about 20,000 feet, and also of goiitg through the evacuation of Dunkirk.

“As you know, the home defence squadrons were used over France during the bigjGerman advance,” states Pilot-Officer Fisher. “We had done quite a lot, and I had one Hun confirmed and two others not confirmed. I think it was on May 26 we went on patrol behind Dunkirk, and we had just arrived when we ran into a bunch of Messerschmitt 110’s. As we went in to attack they dived steeply (this was at about 21,000 feet). I had just got on tho tail of one and I was about to open fire when one got me instead. Ho must have been hiding above us and got a very lucky deflection 6hot at me. ’ Ono of his cannon sheila crashed through the left 6idc of my cockpit a.nd exploded inside. I thought that I was gone for a minute, as the explosion was terrific, and it felt as though my legs were blown off. A subsequent inspection proved that my shoes and socks were blown off, leaving me intact.” ESCAPE FROM BLAZING MACHINE.

By tho time he realised what had happened, said Pilot-Officer Fisher, there was “a merry blaze going on inside” and he attempted to bale out, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour. By the time he “got the lid off” and tried to open tho emergency panel “things were getting pretty hot and sticky,” and he was going down at a fast jrace, w’hicli made i it even more difficult to get out. He escaped, however, and was graced by the tail of the plane as it passed. “You can imagine my relief on getting into the cool air,” he states. “It felt so good at first that I didn’t think of pulling the rip-cord of the parachute until I vaguely saw the ground below. I had quite a job to find the cord then, as the explosion had caused it to be blown behind my back somewhere. At about 10,000 feet, however, I was safely dangling below’ my ‘brolley.’ I remember thinking how silly it w’as to be floating down in bare feet w’itli shreds of my overalls and trousers floating up all round me. “After what seemed to be hours —I was beginning to think that I could not last out much longer—l hit the ground with a terrific smack, because by this time I could hardly see. I tried to crawl in the direction of a farmhouse which I could vaguely see, when a great soldier appeared pointing a rifle at me. Fortunately he was'a Belgian, and I managed to convince him of my nationality. He collected some of his pals, and they carried me into the farmhouse and found a doctor. By this time my eyes > were firmly closed and they refused to open until about a week later. They dressed my burns and filled me up with morphia and cognac, for which I was very thankful. THROUGH GERMAN LINES. “On the next day they loaded me on a lorry, and after a most uncomfortable journey of three hours, during which we must have passed through the German lines, we arrived at Dunkirk. We were mochine-gulined and bombed on the journey, and on each occasion the driver stopped and left for shelter. I felt very unsafe by myself.” Pilot-Officer Fisher stated that they were bombed again during the night and on the next day they were told that they could be taken to England, but as there was no transport available they w’ould have to walk five miles

to tlie boat or stay. This -was a blow as his legs and feet were badly bruised and his eyes were bandaged. A sergeant helped him, however, and with the aid of a wheel chair lie went a certain distance and then had to walk through sand and water. During the last stages they were bombed most of the time, but no one appeared to worry about it. Finally they went on board some kind of a boat and, after being bombed and shelled again, they arrived safely at an English port in the evening. , He had been very fortunate in not losing his sight, said Pilot-Officer Fisher. His doctor had told him that lie would have no scars when the wounds were healed.