GALLANT PILOT
NEW ZEALAND AIRMEN (TRIBUTE FROM COMRADES | DEFIANCE OF DANGER (United Press Assu —Elec. Tel. Copyriff&t). (Received Dec. 8, 12.35 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 7 1 The Air Ministry News Service states: A Royal Air Force squadron dubbed “Three Demons,” the personnel of which is mostly Canadians, with a sprinkling of tough young Americans, is building up a record for bombed ships that is becoming the envy of other Coastal Command squadrons. Ask any man of the squadron for the name of their best flier and you get the same answer—a New Zealander, Pilot-Officer Ernest William Tacon, D.F.C., formerly of Hastings, Hawke’s Bay. A man who has flown many hours with Pilot-Officer Tacon says it is grand to see the way he handles a Lockheed Hudson, almost as though it was a fighter. Pilot-Ofticer Tacon on one occasion volunteered for a job from which he was not expected to return. The Navy wanted to bomb Stavanger and asked the Coastal Command for a volunteer spotter plane. Pilot-Officer Tacon went. On another occasion, when the squadeon bombed Hamburg, PilotOfficer Tacon flew his plane under telegraph wires, also under high tension cables across the Elbe. Another time he attacked a cruiser off the enemy coast, after which he coaxed his plane home with one dead engine. Pilot-Officer Tacon is now instructing young pilots in his squadron.
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Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21598, 8 December 1941, Page 4
Word Count
224GALLANT PILOT Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21598, 8 December 1941, Page 4
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