THRILLS OVER BERLIN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 236, 3 September 1943, Page 5

THRILLS OVER BERLIN

NEW ZEALAND BOMBERS. (Special. Corresoondent.) (12.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 2. Stirlings of the No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron flew for an average of eight hours in the 1400-mile round trip to Berlin and back on Tuesday night. They had a number of combats with German night fighters, of which one was shot down-and'another was probably destroyed by gunners in a Stirling captained by FlyingOfficer R. Alexander. Typical experiences of the crews in the New Zealand squadron—also many New Zealanders in other squadrons—were those of the Stirlings in which Flying-Officer N. C. Wilson (Auckland) Pilot-Officer T. Dance (Wellington), Flying-Officer T. Lodge (Rotorua), and Flight-Sergt. A. Fawcett (Rotorua) were members of the crews. Flying-Officer Lodge said: "The most interesting part of the flight was the scraps the boys had with the night-fighters. They started from the moment we crossed the Dutch coastline and continued all the way to Berlin and back. It was a good night, dark, but there was a bank of clouds under us and the German night-fighters endeavoured to get our boys silhouetted against it with belts of searchlights, and we had to wander around ] them all. the way in. Eventually we reachwl Berlin. It was beautifully alight and we saw dozens of fires and a high, tower of smoke. There was a good deal of flak, and we got a taste of it;, just as we took our photograph it burst just under us and we bounced a bit. "We did not stay long after dropping our bombs, but began to climb. There were bags of searchlights again all the way out and we could see combats going on with nightfighters all around us We also saw several fighters, but fortunately they did not take.any notice of us or did not see us. There was a bit more flak as we returned over the coast,, but nothing to bother us."