DARING PILOTS
PROTECTING CONVOYS SHIPS' FIGHTER AEROPLANES SUCCESS AGAINST BOMBERS "They never fail to down the attacking bombers,"said a master mariner in Auckland yesterday, when describing the work of high-speed interceptor aeroplanes which are now being catapulted from British merchantmen to defend Atlantic convoys from bombing attacks. In recent voyages in the Atlantic he had seen the fighter aeroplanes destroy tfie slower German bombers every time they went up. The attackers were usually fourengined Focke-Wulf Kuriers, Germany's biggest bombers. Several merchantmen in each convoy were now carrying fighter machines. If the fighter pilots could reach land after destroying the attacking bombers they would do so, but usually they had to sacrifice their machines to save the convoy. They baled out with parachutes near .the convoy and a small rescue boat, which accompanied every convoy, picked them up from the sea. The rescue boats were covered with netting to enable the pilots to climb aboard. "The loss of an aeroplane is little compared with the loss of one or more ships," said the master mariner.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24127, 20 November 1941, Page 8
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174DARING PILOTS New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24127, 20 November 1941, Page 8
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