WRITTEN AS WE ARE FLYING”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 179, 1 August 1941, Page 4

WRITTEN AS WE ARE FLYING”

WANGANUI PILOT’S LETTER WEED PATTERNS SEEN IN DEEP, CALM SEA Scenery in Scotland is aptly described in a letter to his parents in Wanganui, written by Sergeant-Pilot J. A. Ward. He refers to Loch Ness, to Ben Nevis, a name clear to lhe heart of every Scotsman. “We are doing a trip at the moment, and as J am on rest period I thought I would write this letter,” he has written. “1 am fiat on my back on the bunk, but if J sit. up J can see the Scottish coast, about live miles away on our port beam. Writing in one of these ‘kites' is just like writing in a rather noisy room on the ground. They are so big that they sit like rocks in the air and it has to be, very rough before they will move an inch off the course. “It is a wonderful day; clear blue

skies and not. a ripple on the water. We are heading straight out to sea now and though the water is really deep here we can see the patterns of the patches of seaweed on the bottom. We have a 40-mile sea crossing ahead of us. and, even now, the islands we are going to are quite clear. I've got my helmet on and it is plugged in to the telephonic inter-communication on the ’kite’ and occasionally 7 there are really funny wise-cracks from jhe gunners—they are Canadians—to the pilot or navigator. "Since I mentioned those islands we have done the 40 miles and we are there now, before setting our course for the next point of the flight. (Later). "Back on the coast now. on the way home. Really familiar looking coast here: very much like the Kaikouras in the area we travelled over cross country from Wigram; not, so high, but. lhe same ruggedness.”