They Owe Their Lives to Skill of Plane Braiders

Northern Advocate, 14 September 1940, Page 7

They Owe Their Lives to Skill of Plane Braiders

\ Brit ish Official Wireless .] (Received 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, September 13. Many pilots who are fighting again today in the fierce air battles over England owe their lives to the skill of the men who made the Spitfires and Hurricanes, which carried them home, although battered by enemy shells and bullets. After destroying a Messerschmitt 109. a Spitfire pilot had his aircraft severely damaged by shells from another Messerschmitt. He said: “My fuselage and one wing were hit. severing the rudder control completely. He Got Back “The elevator cables and the wireless were also hit. “I managed, however, to return to my base and make a forced landing with very little additional damage to the wing tips." A squadron-leader shot down a Junkers 88 and then had to break away from the fight as the cooling mixture in the pipe of his Hurricane was hit. The cockpit filled with smoke and fumes. Hit in Sole of Shoe He had also been hit in the sole of his shoe, and in the hood behind his head, in the airscrew and in each main plane. Three ignition leads to the starboard block were shattered as well. The pilot merely reported difficulty in getting back to his base.