AIRMAN’S BRAVERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25737, 8 January 1945, Page 2

AIRMAN’S BRAVERY

DEATH IN BLAZING PLANE

The bravery of a New Zealand airman who died in a blazing plane which he piloted away from a school in the residential area of an English town is described in letters and newspaper clippings received by his mother in ■Wellington. The airman was Plight Lieutenant Ross Victor (Allan) Levy, whose death was announced in the casualty lists recently. Mrs Levy has received from English people moi e than a dozen letters describing her son’s brave act. They are residents ot the town over which the deed look place. The writers, besides expressing their sympathy, pay tribute to the airman's courage, which prevented loss ot life or serious damage to the town. Describing the occurrence an English paper says that shortly before lunch time a terrific explosion occulted in mid-air. almost directly over the centre of the town. The sky became filled with falling fragments from he plane, which had only a little earliei left Midland aerodrome. Immcdiately after the explosion the body ot the machine dived headlong to earth, aoparently almost directly towards the school buildings. “It seemed as though the pilot was making strenuous effous to get clear of the town, though whether this was the case or not can never be ascertained, as the crew were dead before assistance could reacn them ” says the paper. The plane, however, landed in a field just beyond the recreation ground. Larger pieces o the machine and the engine itself fell much nearer the town. Only slight damage was done to two buildings in th “ /°want to tell you how magnificently the aircraft was piloted to the last, into the field close to my house, wrote one woman to Mrs Levy. n came over many houses and the Flight Lieutenant Levy was born in Wellington on March 1. 1922 and was educated at the Northland School and Wellington College. Pie had completed 30 operational flights over Germany at the time of his death.