NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 39, 14 January 1944, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND AIRMAN

SERVICE WITH POLES. (Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 1.35 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 13. A "gremlin scarer" of his own design and painting was the mascot used during his operational flights bv Wing-Commander A. H. Boxer, D.F.C., of Hastings, who recently received the Polish Victoria Cross— Vertuti Militari—from General Sosnkowski. the Polish Commander-in-Chief. The design incorporated the head of a tiki, two silver ferns, and the Southern Cross, with the motto "Kia ora". Boxer painted it on -a. piece of square metal which he can bolt on any., aircraft he is flying. "And I do not operate without it,' he admits with a grin. Boxer has a great admiration for the Poles, which evidently is mutual, and he formed firm friendships when he commanded a Polish flight in a Halifax squadron. He regards them as excellent ooerational pilots, and although he only speaks a few Polish phrases the New Zealander and the Poles could always understand one another bv signs, aided by broken English. In fact he understood them so well that he was often called in as interpreter. HIGHEST POLISH AWARD.

No information can be given how he won the Virtuti Militari—it is a royal blue ribbon with two black bands at either end —but here is a summary of his service record. He joined the R.A.F. in 1938 and after being commissioned took an instructor's course. He continued instructing on Oxfords, Ansons, and Harvards until March, 1942, when he was posted to a Whitley squadron as a flight-lieutenant. Boxer arrived at tho squadron at 3 p.m. At 4 p.m. he attended a briefing and operated that night, bombing a lank assembly'plant in France He did 14 raids on Whitleys and was then transferred to a Halifax squadron. It was here that he commanded Polish flights as squadron-leader. By April, 1943. ho completed 21 operations in Ilalifaxes, making a total of 35 for tho tour. For a while he commanded a satellite operational training unit station. He then joined the intelligence staff of the Air Ministry, where he is now. The "gremlin scarer" served him in good stead in his operation. On four occasions ho returned with one engine out of order, "due to engine trouble or flak." One of them cut out while he was on an operation which lasted for 13i hours. On another occasion lie was over Southern Germany with only three engines working when a Heinkel 111 challenged him. It was probably a training aircraft for it used flashlight morse. Boxer flashed bock several letters including S.O.S. Eventually the aircraft drifted away from one another. Whether tho "Gremlin scarer" had anything lo do with the German being nut off so easily is a moot point, but at all events Boxer insists that he will fly with the mascot on his next tour, which he hopes to carry out before long.