CHIVALRY IN WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20792, 7 February 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

CHIVALRY IN WAR.

AN AVIATOR'S PREDICAMENT. AUSTRIANS' GALLANT ACT. One of the most remarkable features of the conflict in the air during the Great War was the spirit of chivahy which prevailed among the aviator-warriors. Interesting disclosures regarding this phase of the fighting have been made by Colonel W. A. Bishop, Y.C., the famous Canadian " ace."

Speaking at the annual reunion of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, Colonel Bishop related an outstanding incident of the airmen's courtesy on the Austrian front. In the summer of 1917 the men of Squadron 60 of the R.A.F. carried out their dawn patrols with only pyjamas under their flying kit because of the intense heat. This habit placed one fighting pilot, Lieutenant Jerrard, V.C., in an awkward predicament. He was shot down near an Austrian aerodrome after sacrificing himself to save others, and thus won the coveted Cross. Having set out on patrol in his scanty and unofficial summer flying rig, ho was without the distinguishing Sam Browne belt, and was faced with the possibility of being sent to a privates' detention cainp. Jerrard's captors flew to the British aerodrome at the risk of their lives, and dropped a note explaining his predicament. Two bundles of clothing, including the Sam Browne belt, were dropped over the Austrian aerodrome by British airmen. " I would like to point out," continued Colonel Bishop, " that while on the way from the British aerodrome to the enemy aerodrome the British machines were under continual fire of anti-airciaft batteries. But from the moment they dropped the bundles of clothing not a shot was fired, nor did any enemy aeroplanes attempt to attack them."