AUSTRALIAN HEROES

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21051, 1 March 1940, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN HEROES

PART IN AIR WARFARE RESPONSIBLE POSITIONS HELD SOME NOTABLE EXPLOITS It is some indication of the part which Australia is playing in the air war that an Australian officer is in charge of administration at hea'csquarters, Coastal Command, and that the aircraft for the maintenance of which in fighting readiness he is responsible have flown 2,500,000 miles over the seas ol; Western Europe since the beginning of the war. The officer is Air Vice Marshal Richard Williams, a Melbourne man, former Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force, affectionately known as “Dicky.” He is on exchange duty with the Royal Air Force. A typical instance of the valuable work which junior officers from Australia are doing in the air may be given. Flying in the face of intense and almost continuous anti-aircraft fire, a young Australian pilot serving with the Royal Air Force recently carried out a daring daylight raid over Germany, returning with most useful information and numerous photographs of enemy aerodromes, railways and main roads. He was the pilot and captain of an aircraft of the Bomber Command which set out from England to obtain photographs of certain German aerodromes in an area known to be well defended by anti-aircraft batteries. Intense Anti-aircraft Fire After crossing the German coast at a great height, the British crew almost immediately encountered a barrage of anti-aircraft fire, both intense and well-aimed. As they pressed on towards their objective inland, other batteries opened fire. For a distance of nearly 20 miles they were harried by an almost continuous high explosive barrage. The shells at times burst simultaneously on both sides of the aircraft. Confusing the gunners’ aim by evasive manoeuvres, the pilot finally won through to his objective and, coming lower, flew a zig-zag course, while his observer took nearly 50 photographs. On the return journey—made by a different route—the pilot flew back to the coast again through heavy antiaircraft fire. When finally he reached the North Sea he was able to fly a straight course for the first time since entering enemy territory. In addition to the photographs obtained, the pilot was able to supply valuable information concerning weather conditions over Germany. This was of great assistance to other units of the Bomber Command which were then standing by in readiness for a night reconnaissance flight. Playing Full Part This is an exploit in which Australia may take just pride. It does not stand alone. In the day and night reconnaissance flights, which since the war began have been carried out over many parts of Germany, Australian airmen serving with the Royal Air Force have played their full part. A new Royal Australian Air Force squadron is in process of being formed in England. Officers who came with the pre-war contingent have been taking turns as pilots and navigators on Atlantic anti-submar-ine and convoy patrols and general reconnaissance. All of them have already put in some hundreds of flying hours on these duties. Besides Air Vice-Marshal Williams, there is “Wally,” operations planning I officer at Coastal Command headquarters. His job is organising the air protection of convoys and the details of offensive action against enemy sea raiders. He was previously chief flying instructor at Point Cook, Victoria, the principal Australian Flying School. He, too. comes from Melbourne, was educated at Perth, graduated from the Royal Military College, and was undergoing a course at the Staff College in Britain when war began. Australian Officers Another Australian—he is on the Operations Room Staff at coastal headquarters—comes from Sydney. He also was at the Staff College on the outbreak of war. This officer carried out a great deal of photographic survey work in Central Australia. On one occasion, while on an air survey expedition, he had to make a forced landing at Newcastle Waters owing to lack of petrol. He came down on a small patch in a vast 1 stretch of scrub, 90 miles from the nearest cattle station. It was nine days before he and his crew were found from the air and rescued. Shortly afterwards he was the < rescuer, not the rescued, for it was 1 he who led the successful air search J for Sir Herbert Gepp and a party of other geologists who were forced to : descend at Lake Mackay, in Central 1 Australia, and were lost for two days. It took seven days to save - them. “Bill,” as this officer is known, 1 directed the ground searchers through 1 the sandhills. Not long afterwards he also rescued Dr. Fenton, the “flying doctor” whose air ambulance journevs in the Northern Territory are famous. After a four-days’ search he found Dr. Fenton about 100 miles northeast of Newcastle Waters and came down in the scrub to rescue him. Among the officers who come from Australia is a wing-commander named “Stumps.” They call him that because he is so tall. He 'formerly belonged to the Australian Naval Air Arm and afterwards commanded a squadron at Pearce Aerodrome, Western Australia. He attended the coronation of King George VI as officer in charge of the Royal Australian Air Force contingent. Second in command of the embryo Australian Squadron is r a flightlieutenant who was previously with the flying arm of the Royal Australian Navy. He accompanied H.M.A.S. Brisbane when she came to Britain to be broken up, then joined H.M.A.S. Sydney. He spent six months on flying duties in the Mediterranean during the Italo-Abvs-sinian war.

To the credit of another Australian goes the feat of having, a few days ago, piloted a flying-boat to the> African coast, a total journey of 1500 miles. It was an uneventful mission, beyond the discovery of a balloon in the Bay of Biscay which had broken adrift from the London air defence barrage. His navigation was so good that he arrived almost to the minute of the time set in advance for the journey.