FAMOUS AIRMAN BROADCASTS

Southland Times, Issue 24108, 23 April 1940, Page 4

FAMOUS AIRMAN BROADCASTS

FLYING OFFICER KAIN’S CAREER POSTED TO FIGHTER SQUADRON A recorded broadcast that was heard with more than usual interest by New Zealanders during the week-end was an interview with a personage whom the announcer termed “a famous Wellington airman whose name I am . not allowed to mention.” It became obvious in the course of the interview, however, that this was none other than the renowned Flying Officer Edgar Kain, who has now brought down no fewer than five Nazi planes and at present is rated the first British air ace of the war.

Giving a brief account of his flying career, the New Zealand airman recounted how he had left Wellington in 1936, when his parents were making a business trip to London, in the hope of gaining a commission in the Royal Air Force. He was 18 years of age at the time and had lived all his life in Wellington. He had gone to school at Christ’s College, Christchurch, and on leaving had joined the Wellington Aero Club. Here “Cobber” Kain referred to the help he had received from Courtenay Hall, who, even at preparatory school, had supplied the now famous pilot with Royal Air Force pamphlets.

“I expect he is listening to me now,” the young airman added, “as he is an announcer at station 2YA.” He went on to tell how, after only six hours’ dual instruction, he obtained his A licence, which was in those days a necessary qualification for anyone who wanted a commission. The first medical board he went before in England did not pass him as he was only just off the ship and he was sent away until he became acclimatized. The second time, however, he was passed and sent to a civil training school. There he was stationed for three weeks after which he spent a fortnight at Orbridge for machine duty and discipline. FRONTIER PATROLLED At the end of 1937 he was posted to a fighter squadron with which he went to France at the beginning of the war. The types of aeroplane he flew were Gladiators and Hurricanes. “When war broke out,” Flying Officer Kain said, “we were one of the first squadrons to come over to France and for some months now we have been patrolling the frontier. The aerodrome is in a field, and all the equipment, from machine shop to kitchen, is on wheels so as to be able to move at a moment’s notice.’

He then proceeded to give an account of the air battle, details of which are already familiar to New Zealanders, in which he shot down two Nazi aeroplanes and in which his own machine was put out of action and set on fire by an enemy cannon shell. The interview was concluded by tne young airman conveying special messages to his relations and friends in the Dominion. He referred to the tiki which had been sent to him by his sister and which he always wore when going up. He also expressed appreciation for the cable messages his mother sometimes sent him, especially, he added, when she said, “Father has cabled via the bank!”