TACTICAL BOMBER FORCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25428, 8 January 1944, Page 5

TACTICAL BOMBER FORCE

SQUADRONS IN ITALY , NEW ZEALANDERS IN CREWS (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON. Jan. B. The tactical bomber force in Italy has several New Zealanders serving in its squadrons. They include Flying Officer E. F. Edwards (Whangarei), Flight Sergeants H. S. McCullum (Opunake) and C. Parkin (Dunsandel), and Flying Officer R. H. Crook. Others who are now resting from operations include N. Dumont, D.F.C. (Gisborne), who has completed 63 operations, and Warrant Officer W, Petrie (Ashburton). who has completed 65. Edwards, who has done 65 raids, was in the Tunisian campaign. He did 15 operations in Bisleys, attacking aerodromes, and bombing and machinegunning road transport. He transferred to Bostons after the Tunisian fighting and helped to bomb Pantellaria and Lampedusa. In Sicily these medium bombers had the same role as in Tunis—hitting airfields and strafing road transport. His squadron moved from Tunis to Malta, Comiso, Gerbini, and Brindisi, later going fur : ther north. Edwards has done several raids in the vicinity of Naples, more recently operating in support of the Eighth Army. j . . .. McCullum, who spent a short time with the New Zealand Ventura squadron before going to North Africa, has now done 51 raids. He also began operating in the Tunis fighting in Bisleys and he helped to bomb Kasserine Pass when the Americans were being pushed back. Later he did 23 operations in Bostons, sometimes as many as three “trips’ a day, two in the morning and one in the afternoon, during the final stages at Tunis. His experiences in Sicily were similar to those of Edwards, but he was also in a raid on a railway junction near the ancient city of Pompeii. He once returned with 36 bullet holes in his aircraft. Parkin, who joined the squadron at Gerbini, has done 12 operations, including a visit to Jugoslavia. Crook, who is in a different squadron, is one of the few members of the R.A.F. wearing the Suva shoulderflash. He began operations at the Mareth Line, and also took part in the Pantellaria, Sicilian and Italian operations. He has now carried out 59 raids. He was trained in Rhodesia, and is proud of the fact that he has visited 24 countries since he joined the R.A.F. Recently, while Crook was bombing near Sangro, a piece of flak which shattered the perspex hood, but fortunately did little more, nearly knocked him out.