AIRMAN'S BOLD DASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24243, 8 April 1942, Page 6

AIRMAN'S BOLD DASH

SHOT DOWN IN DESERT GERMAN LINES PENETRATED SYDNEY. April 2 An Australian sergeant-pilot has just returned to his squadron in the Western Desert after spending two days as a fugitive among Germans; shooting a German sentry* and walking right through the German lines. This is related 'in a despatch from the Middle East, received by the Minister for Air, Mr. Drakeford. The sergeant-pilot, who comes from Sydney, was piloting a Hurricane on night ~ strafing operations when he sighted a German camp in a wadi near Menaloa Bay. He dropped a flare, dived into the wadi, and machine-gunned the camp. A machine-gun replying from the ground, scored a hit on his engine, and he was forced to bale out. The Germans saw him jump, and set out to capture him. The pilot, however, released himself from the parachute the moment he reached the ground, and ran into a water-logged gully near by. "I thought thev were bound to get me," he said. "Suddenly I heard an aircraft engine, that of another Hurricane from my squadron about to strafe the same camp, perhaps attracted by the flare I had dropped. The Hurricane passed overhead shooting, and the Germans were in the direct line of fire. They did not worry me again." He told how he swam the wadi, and next day evaded search parties. He stumbled on an enemy aerodrome, and had to shoot a sentry and run. Walking eastward he passed unchallenged through a small German camp, and finally reached a South African camp.