“DID GRAND JOB”

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22200, 18 February 1942, Page 5

“DID GRAND JOB”

N.Z. Fighter Squadron In Big Action Escorted Bombers Over Channel Part In Attack On Nazi Warships By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. Feb. 17.) LONDON, Feb. 16. New Zealand may well be proud of the New Zealand Fighter Squadron. Led by Squadron-Leader E. P. Wells, D.F.C. and Bar, formerly of the Cambridge Squadron, it shot down four Germans, damaged two and shot up and probably sank an E-boat when providing an escort tor bombers which were attacking the German battleships Gneisenau and Schamhorst and the Prinze Eugen, near Ostend. Flight-Lieutenants W. V. C. Compton and G. Francis, both of Auckland, and Pilot Officer R. Grant, D.F.M., of Woodville, each shot down one German machine. Pilot Officer D. Clouston and H. Sweetman, both of Auckland, shared another. Flight Lieutenant Compton and Sergeant J. D. Rae, of Auckland, probably shot down two more, while Squadron Leader Wells, Pilot-Officer J. M. Checketts, of Invercargill, Sergeants W. M. Krebbs, of Hawke's Bay, and T. Goodlett, of Dunedin, pumped an E-boat full of cannon shells and bullets. The squadron flew at 5000 feet over the Channel above a cloudbank and then drqped through a hole in the clouds near Ostend. Squadron Leader Wells saw four Messerschmitt 109 s 1000 feet below and told Flight Lieutenant Compton to attack. Flight Lieutenant Compton, with Pilot Officers Sweetman and Clouston and Pilot Officer E. E. Mackie of Walhi, dive-turned and swept down on the enemy. A melee followed. Flight Lieutenant Compton blew off the wing tip from one Messerschmitt, but he did not have time to see the result. The Germans flew in over the Dutch coast, hoping that the New Zealanders would follow and so allow the anti-aircraft batteries to shoot them down. The flight, at 200 feet over Holland, wheeled rapidly from land, with antiaircraft fire and flaming onions sprouting towards them. They reformed over

the sea. Here they saw six Messerschmitts approaching, and they immediately attacked. The Germans tried to draw them in over the coast, but the very wary New Zealanders were not biting. They reformed after chasing the Germans, and prepared to meet fresh attackers. Flight Lieutenant Compton suddenly heard Pilot Officer Sweetman shouting, “Look out, Bill! One over your tail.” Flight Lieutenant Compton dive-turned and escaped, after which he saw the Messerschmitt spin Into the sea. Both Pilot Officer Sweetman anti Pilot Officer Clouston fired at the aeroplane, but they had no time to see the results, for which they were credited with a half each. Meanwhile, Flight Lieutenant Compton fastened on the tail of another Messerschmitt and fired three long bursts. He saw It crash on a beach five miles west of Ostend. Although their ammunition was now exhausted, the quartet’s experiences were not ended. Flight Lieutenant Compton. Pilot Officer Clouston, and Pilot Officer Mackie, flying together, heard Pilot Officer Sweetman calling over the radio telephone. Looking round, they saw him leading what appeared to be a flight of Germans, except that they were shooting at him. Although they were without ammunition. they swept around on the Germans, who Immediately made off. Battle Over Warships When Flight Lieutenant Compton’s flight turned away, the remainder of the squadron flew on, and suddenly arrived over the German battleships, which were sandwiched between destroyer screens, with E-boats screened by destroyers. All the ships were steaming very fast and were leaving giant, creaming wakes the convoy’s width from the boat screen. The E-boat screen was probably five miles in length. Squadron Leader Wells detailed Flight Lieutenant Francis to lead his flight down the lane between the Belgian coast nd the battleships, while he himself led his own flight on the other side of the battleships between them and the other line of destroyers. Flight Lieutenant Francis, with Pilot Officer Grant and Sergeants Rae and J. Liken, of Hawke’s Bay, sighted four Messerschmitts flying in pairs and chased them, but the Germans dashed off over the top of the battleships. The four New Zealanders suddenly ’’'"ind adbout 30 German aircraft round them. Flight Lieutenant Francis sighted a Focke Wulfe 109 and gave it a ten-seconds burst, after which the German crashed into the sea. Sergeant Rae continued to dive after the pair originally sighted. He saw pieces from the tail of one scattering before he broke off the action. Flight Lieutenant Francis's flight ran out of ammunition, and returned to England unharmed. E-boats Attacked Meanwhile Squadron Leader Wells’s flight flew down the lane between the battleships and destroyers, seeking Messerschmitts, but without success, so they turned and followed up the battleships, waiting hopefully until their petrol became short. Squadron Leader Wells therefore decided to use up his ammunition against the Eboats. His flight peeled off and swept down on the last E-boat. They saw cannon shells and bullets smashing it up. Very heavy anti-aircraft fire greeted the flight, temporarily obscuring Squadron Leader Wells’s machine from Pilot Officer Checkett’s sight. Having spent its ammunition, the flight returned home, where the squadron was very jubilant at having lost no pilots and raised the squadron’s score to 20 Germans. Subsequently the national newspapers published the squadron’s photographs, with the caption: “Whatever questions may be asked, these men did a grand job for Britain.”