CORSAIR SQUADRON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25870, 14 June 1945, Page 6

CORSAIR SQUADRON

SUCCESSFUL TOUR IN PACIFIC ‘ RETURN TO DOMINION ■(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service) GREEN ISLAND, June 7. Dawn to dusk patrols over Rabaul airfields' to deny their use to' the enemy and bombing strikes, first on New Britain and later on South Bougainville, were the main assignments of a New Zealand Corsair squadron which has completed its second tour of duty in the Pacific and returned to the Dominion.

“ It was a very successful tour,” said the commanding officer, Squadron Leader A. G. S. George (Auckland), in an interview here before the squadron left for home. The squadron flew a total of 528 sorties, including 234 over Rabaul and 188 over Bougainville. More than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on South Bougainville alone.

At one stage the pilots were hopeful of incoming to grips with enemy aircraft reported to be sneaking around the Bismarcks, but the Japanese were too wily. The only enemy plane seen in the air was sighted by Pilot .Officer J. A. Knowles (Hokitika), but visibility was poor, and the Zero got away in the clouds. “We tried a few hoaxes to draw him out,” said the squadron leader, “but he was not having any." With the stepping up of the ground war on Bougainville, all available aircraft were diverted to targets in the rear of the enemy’s forward defended localities, chiefly in the Muguai, and Nakaru areas.

“ While the nature of pur attacks made it hard always to tally up results,” Squadron Leader George continued, “it is certain that the weight of bombing on South Bougainville must have had a substantial effect on the enemy’s lines of communication, his rear storage and supply areas, and his morale. Reports from front-line Australians state that enemy reinforcements of men and material lately have become noticeably reduced any irreguSquadron Leader George’s flight commanders were Flight Lieutenant R. A. Martin (Te Puke) and Flight Lieutenant V. D. Rabone (Palmerston North).